
Copyright N" 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSrr. 



ELEMENTARY 



PEDAGOGY 



BY 

LEVI SEELEY, Ph.D. 

PROFESSOR OF THE SCIENCE AND ART OF EDUCATION, 
IN THE NEW JERSEY STATE NORMAL SCHOOL, 
AUTHOR OF "A NEW SCHOOL MANAGE- 
MENT," "THE FOUNDATIONS 
OF EDUCATION," ETC. 



S' 



HINDS, NOBLE & ELDREDGE, 
31-33-35 West 15th Street, 

NEW YORK CITY 



LIBRARY of CONGRESS 
Two Cooles Received 

MAY 16 1906 

CLASS /dU. XXC. No, 
COPY B. . 



Copyright, 1906, 

BY 

HINDS, NOBLE & ELDREDGE 



PREFACE 



The subject of pedagogy is very generally regarded by 
young teachers with a certain amount of dread. They 
think of it as dry, difficult, uninteresting, and hard to 
comprehend. Were it not that examining boards and 
superintendents require that candidates for certificates 
shall possess a knowledge of pedagogy and pass an exam- 
ination in that subject, it is to be feared that many teachers 
would never study it. And yet, it is one of the most valu- 
able subjects, and one of the most profitable that can 
engage the attention of the instructor. It not only gives 
a broad view of the work of education, but it may also be 
a most potent aid in solving the problems of the school- 
room. Hence it is necessary and invaluable to every 
teacher. 

Nor need the subject be dry or distasteful even to the 
young and untrained beginner. Indeed, it is one of the 
most interesting subjects that demand the attention of 
those to whom is committed the education of the young. 
Taste for any kind of literature is a growth. It has seemed 
to me that works on general pedagogy have presupposed 
a development too advanced in educational thought on 
the part of the beginner, and therefore have discouraged 
him at the outset. The attempt is made in this book to 
provide material for the beginner in the study of pedagogy. 
Let this not be forgotten. 

The method employed is largely inductive. Through 



fv PREFACE 

numerous concrete illustrations the student is led up to 
the general truth. At the close of each chapter one or 
more principles are stated wliich summarize the teacliings 
of the chapter in as compact a form as possible. The sum 
total of these principles constitutes an educational phi- 
losophy — not a complete or exhaustive philosophy, by any 
means, but one that is believed to introduce the most im- 
portant educational thought of the day. The final word 
in educational theory has not been spoken, and never will 
be spoken, for new conditions arouse new interests and 
bring forth new problems. Questions that attracted atten- 
tion a quarter of a century ago have been settled, — 
some of them at least — and new ones are constantly 
arising. Therefore it is not claimed that this book is ex- 
haustive, even upon the questions it discusses. Educational 
philosophy should be a guide to the teacher as to the course 
of study, method of instruction, discipline, educational 
means and ends, elements that enter into the problem of 
education, etc. If pedagogy can furnish this guide to the 
teacher, surely it is a most important study. 
The following plan of study is recommended : 

1. Take the outline of a chapter as a scheme or plan 
and consider each topic in order. 

2. Read the discussion under each topic in the text, and 
investigate the subject as thoroughly as may be in the 
works of reference given at the beginning of the chapter 
and in the foot-notes. This opens a field for unlimited 
study and therefore suggests material not only for begin- 
ners, but also for the most advanced students of pedagogy. 

3. Commit to memory the principles stated at the end 
of the chapter. This fixes the truth and lays it away for 



PREFACE V 

future use when needed. For justification of this sugges- 
tion, see page 93. 

4. Reverse the process by way of review, employing the 
deductive method; that is, starting with the principle, see 
if the student has understood and can apply it. 

It is very important that breadth of vision be gained by 
reading as many as possible of the works cited as well as 
other pedagogical literature. 

It may be repeated that this book is designed for be- 
ginners in the study of pedagogy, — for students in normal 
and training schools; for teachers' classes and reading 
circles; for the teacher in the country school, isolated from 
colaborers and sympathetic advisers and obliged to pursue 
her way alone; indeed, for the young teacher everywhere; 
and for the earnest student of education in whatever field.' 
To all such, may this book prove a blessing. 

Due credit should be given to the influence of Rosen- 
kranz's "Philosophy of Education," in shaping the plan 
of the book. It is doubtful if any work has yet appeared 
that marks so definite an educational philosophy as this 
treatise, wliich has for nearly half a century claimed the 
attention of educational thinkers. Therefore the author 
gratefully acknowledges its influence upon him in his teach- 
ing and in the preparation of this volume. I have also 
quoted freely from other authors that have been a help 
and inspiration to me. It seems to me just and honest, 
if some one has originated a thought or discovered a truth 
that I wish to use in support of a position, to give that 
person credit for his contribution. Hence there is no 
apology for the numerous quotations. 

In addition to the help from these sources, which has 



tv PREFACE 

numerous concrete illustrations the student is led up to 
the general truth. At the close of each chapter one or 
more principles are stated which summarize the teachings 
of the chapter in as compact a form as possible. The sum 
total of these principles constitutes an educational plii- 
losophy — not a complete or exhaustive philosophy, by any 
means, but one that is believed to introduce the most im- 
portant educational thought of the day. The final word 
in educational theory has not been spoken, and never will 
be spoken, for new conditions arouse new interests and 
bring forth new problems. Questions that attracted atten- 
tion a quarter of a century ago have been settled, — 
some of them at least — and new ones are constantly 
arising. Therefore it is not claimed that tliis book is ex- 
haustive, even upon the questions it discusses. Educational 
philosophy should be a guide to the teacher as to the course 
of study, method of instruction, discipline, educational 
means and ends, elements that enter into the problem of 
education, etc. If pedagogy can furnish this guide to the 
teacher, surely it is a most important study. 
The following plan of study is recommended : 

1. Take the outline of a chapter as a scheme or plan 
and consider each topic in order. 

2. Read the discussion under each topic in the text, and 
investigate the subject as thoroughly as may be in the 
works of reference given at the beginning of the chapter 
and in the foot-notes. This opens a field for unlimited 
study and therefore suggests material not only for begin- 
ners, but also for the most advanced students of pedagogy. 

3. Commit to memory the principles stated at the end 
of the chapter. This fixes the truth and lays it away for 



PREFACE V 

future use when needed. For justification of this sugges- 
tion, see page 93. 

4. Reverse the process by way of review, employing the 
deductive method; that is, starting with the principle, see 
if the student has understood and can apply it. 

It is very important that breadth of \ision be gained by 
reading as many as possible of the works cited as well as 
other pedagogical literature. 

It may be repeated that this book is designed for be- 
ginners in the study of pedagogy, — for students in normal 
and training schools; for teachers' classes and reading 
circles; for the teacher in the country school, isolated from 
colaborers and sympathetic advisers and obliged to pursue 
her way alone; indeed, for the young teacher everywhere; 
and for the earnest student of education in whatever field.' 
To all such, may this book prove a blessing. 

Due credit should be given to the influence of Rosen- 
kranz's ''Philosophy of Education," in shaping the plan 
of the book. It is doubtful if any work has yet appeared 
that marks so definite an educational philosophy as this 
treatise, wliich has for nearly half a century claimed the 
attention of educational thinkers. Therefore the author 
gratefully acknowledges its influence upon him in his teach- 
ing and in the preparation of this volume. I have also 
quoted freely from other authors that have been a help 
and inspiration to me. It seems to me just and honest, 
if some one has originated a thought or discovered a truth 
that I wish to use in support of a position, to give that 
person credit for his contribution. Hence there is no 
apology for the numerous quotations. 

In addition to the help from these sources, which has 



VI PREFACE 

been duly recognized, I desire especially to acknowledge 
the valuable assistance and advice of Dr. James M. Green, 
Principal of the New Jersey Normal School; of my col- 
leagues, Dr. H. B. Boise, and Dr. E. F. Carr, and of the 
Rev. Henry Colin Minton, D.D. 

L. Seeley. 

State Normal School, Trenton, N. J. 



ANALYSIS OF CONTENTS 



CHAPTER I. 

PAGE 

Introduction i 

1. Educational theory embraces, (a) history of education, (b) 
method, (c) school management, (d) a knowledge of subject- 
matter, (e) a knowledge of man (psychology), (f) philosophy of 
education. 2. Office of psychology and pedagogy respectively. 

CHAPTER II. 

The Aim of Education 8 

I. As viewed at different periods. 2. Spencer's definition. 

3. Education as an aim. 4. Harmonious development. 5. 
What is character? 6. Other views. 

CHAPTER III. 

The Science of Education 22 

I. Is there a science of education? — opinions of leading edu- 
cators. 2. Science defined. 3. Reasons for there being a science 
of education, (a) educational principles established, (b) scientific 
works on education, (c) organized study of the subject, (d) chairs 
of pedagogy maintained, (e) long recognized as such 

CHAPTER IV. 

Who can be Educated ? 35 

I. Educating and training. 2. Self-activity. 3. Comparison 
of man with lower animals, (a) instinct, (b) sense-perception, (c) 
imagination, memory, (d) reason, (e) the power of abstraction. 

4. Man alone can be educated. 

CHAPTER V. 

Elective Studies 49 

I. The course of study. 2. Nature of course of study, (a) sub- 
jects must be properly correlated, (b) essentials of culture in the 



Vlll ANALYSIS OF CONTENTS 

PAGE 

elementary course, (c) must be well balanced and symmetrical, 
(d) takes into account the stages of the child's development, (e) 
must meet the aim it intends to meet. 3. Election in the ele- 
mentary school, (a) the period of character-forming, (b) influence 
of the grade teacher. 4. Election in the high school — different 
courses therein. 5. Election in higher institutions of learning. 

CHAPTER VI. 

The Gaining of Knowledge 60 

I. The senses as means of gaining knowledge. 2. Choice 
of material. 3. Old material to be utilized. 4. The work of 
the teacher — rendering assistance. 5. The apperceptive pro- 
cess, (a) choice and arrangement of material, (b) the child and 
his store of experience, (c) the process of teaching. 

CHAPTER VII. 

The Process of Education 83 

I. Real purpose of the school. 2. The formal steps of the 
recitation, (a) preparation — illustration, (b) presentation, (c) 
association, (d) recapitulation — use of rules, (e) application. 

CHAPTER VIII. 

Methods of Instruction 100 

I. Knowledge and method. 2. Method a guide. 3. Care 
in using illustrations. 4. Personahty of the teacher a factor in 
method. 5. Definition of method. 6. Self-improvement essen- 
tial to method. 7. Different methods, (a) analjlic, (b) synthetic, 
(c) inductive, (d) deductive. 

CHAPTER IX. 

Play AS AN Educational Factor 116 

I. A natural tendency of the young. 2. The kindergarten — 
its dangers. 3. The clothing of children. 4. The meaning of 
play. 5. Definition of work and play. 6. Purpose of play. 
7. Teacher's part in games. 8. Play vs. work. 9. Playthings. 



ANALYSIS OF CONTENTS ix 



35 



CHAPTER X. 

PACK 

Habits and their Formation i 

I. What is habit ? — (a) physical habits, (b) intellectual habits, 
(c) moral habits, (d) religious habits. 2. Choice of habits. 3. 
The changing of habits. 4. Obedience. 5. Punishment. 

CHAPTER XI. 
Educational Limitations 159 

I. Education is emancipation, 2. Dulness not incapacity. 
3. Self -activity — views of Froebel and Herbart. 4. Self-em- 
ployment. 5. Self-control. 6. Material means of education. 
7. The power of self-direction. 8. Advantages of superior edu- 
cation. 

CHAPTER Xn. 

Factors in the Education of the Child 180 

I. Primitive education. 2. Importance of education. 3. 
The home. 4. The school. 5. "Fads." 6. Civil society. 
7. The state. 8. The church. 

CHAPTER XIII. 
Physical Development 198 

I. A sound mind in a sound body. 2. Nourishment. 3. 
Food. 4. Clothing. 5. Cleanliness. 6. Fatigue and rest. 7. 
Gymnastics. 

CHAPTER XIV. 

Intellectual Development 216 

I. Self-activity. 2. Attention, (a) isolation, (b) analysis, 
(c) abstraction, (d) finding relations. 3. Practical suggestions 
as to attention, (a) see to material conditions, (b) require proper 
attitude, (c) awaken interest, (d) use judgment as to length of 
recitation, (e) never teach without attention. 4. Industry. 

CHAPTER XV. 

Three Stages of Intellectual Development 233 

I. Sense-perception. — i. Perception depends upon, (a) the 
number of sensations received, (b) the order in which the sensa- 
tions are received, (c) the vividness of the sensations, (d) the 



ANALYSIS OF CONTENTS 

associations connected with it, (e) attention to details. 2. Use 
of pictures. 3. Making collections. 4. Training the ear. 
II. Imagination — i. Creative imagination. 2. Cultivating 
the imagination. 3. Myths and fairy tales. 4. Good taste for 
literature. 5. Memory. 6. Training the memory. III. Rea- 
son — I. Training the logical powers. 2. The use of the rule. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

The Act of Learning 259 

I. Education a process of cancellation. 2. Instruction the 
principal work of the school. 3. The professionally taught and 
the self-taught. 4. The course of study. 5. What the elemen- 
tary school should accomplish. 6. Arrangement of the daily 
program. 7. Means of learning. 8. Text-books. 9. Oral 
instruction. 10. Agencies of instruction. 11. Kinds of 
schools, (a) elementary, (b) secondary, (c) undergraduate, (d) 
graduate, (e) special. 12. Management of the school. 



CHAPTER XVII. 

Will Training 2? 

I. The will — will defined. 2. Obedience to authority the 
first step in training the will. 3. Will trained by teaching con- 
formity to social customs. 4. Will trained through formation 
of habits. 5. Good character the result of right will training. 
6. Moral training in the school. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

Religious Education 307 

I. Religion a universal principle. 2. Dissatisfaction as to 
the present religious instruction. 3. Education to be complete in- 
cludes religion. 4. What religious education embraces, (a) rever- 
ence, (b) knowledge of the Bible, (c) prayer, (d) a conception of 
religion, (e) initiation to religious forms. 5. Agencies of religious 
instruction, (a) the home, (b) the church, (c) the school. 6. The 
state and religion. 7. Religion defined. 



ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 



CHAPTER I 
INTRODUCTION 



General References.* — Rosenkranz, Philosophy of Education; 
Prince, Courses and Methods; Spencer, Education; Payne, Contri- 
butions to the Science of Education; Parker, Talks on Pedagogics; 
Boone, Science of Education; Home, Philosophy of Education; 
McMurry, General Method; White, Elements of Pedagogy; Ogden, 
Science of Education; Butler, The Meaning of Education; Edu- 
cational Review. 

Every teacher should be grounded in educational theory. 
It is said that "Experience is a good schoolmaster," but 
experience gained in the schoolroom is expensive both to 
the child and to the teacher, unless it be preceded on the 
part of the latter by a study of educational philosophy. 
Such philosophical study should prevent many mistakes 
and enable the teacher to give his pupils the best that the 
world has yet learned. Nothing less than this is their 
due, and the teacher must be prepared to offer nothing 
less. Hence the necessity of a knowledge of pedagogy. 

But what does educational theory embrace? What are 
the subjects that a scheme of general pedagogy must in- 

' The references here given are those that are employed throughout the 
whole study of the subject. Special references will be given at the head 
of each chapter touching the topics therein treated, but these are for general 
and constant use. 



2 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

elude? The answer is as follows, and this is the order 
in which the subjects should be taken: 

A Knowledge of Man, which enables the teacher to care 
for the physical well-being of his pupils, on the one hand, 
and also makes him acquainted with the intellectual activi- 
ties and the laws that govern those activities, that is, with 
psychology, on the other hand. It includes a knowledge 
of man's moral and religious nature. 

History of Education, which describes the educational 
movements of the past; sets forth the lives and teachings 
of great thinkers who have written educational works or 
who have been great teachers; outlines the systems and 
theories of education that have been promulgated; traces 
the advance of civihzation through educational means; 
gives warning as to the errors of the past ; and suggests new 
fields for future improvement and investigation. The 
history of education is semi-academic in character and, 
therefore, it furnishes a natural link between the purely 
academic and the professional training of the teacher. 

Method, which treats of the natural, orderly, and syste- 
matic manner of presenting the material to the mind and 
of the relative values of subject-matter; or, as Kant puts 
it, "Method is procedure according to principles." A 
knowledge of method is essential to the theoretical prep- 
aration of the teacher. 

School Management, which considers school discipline^ 
good order, proper habits, correct morals, relation of the 
school to the community, as well as other matters con- 



INTRODUCTION 3 

nected with the internal affairs of the school, such as, 
promotion, grading, and classification, the daily schedule, 
school incentives, relation of teachers to their pupils and 
to those in authority over them, school hygiene, etc. 

A Knowledge of Subject-matter, not only from the culture 
standpoint, but also concerning its value for the purpose 
of intellectual discipline. This must, of course, include 
a far broader range of material than the specific subjects 
that one is called upon to teach. The teacher must possess 
a reserve of knowledge upon which he can draw at all 
times to the increased advantage of his pupils. 

Philosophy of Education, in which the climax of pro- 
fessional training is reached. It states the aim, determines 
the nature, and defines the limits of education. In a sense, 
the philosophy of education summarizes the teachings and 
gathers up the lessons taught by the foregoing subjects. 
It gives a broad view of the whole field of education and 
brings every act of teaching to the test of sound phil- 
osophy as a basis. 

Psychology and Pedagogy. — There is a close relation- 
ship between psychology and pedagogy. It may be well 
to consider this relationship and point out the field that 
each should seek to cover. Joseph Payne says, "Psy- 
chology is the basis of all the practical sciences which 
have to do with the moral faculties of man; but the other 
sciences which are derived from psychology treat of but 
certain energies of the human soul — logic, of thought, 
aesthetics, of the sentiment of the beautiful, ethics, of the 



4 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

soul. Pedagogy alone embraces all the faculties of the 
soul and should put under contribution the whole of psy- 
chology." Professor James emphatically cautions teachers 
as to the limitations of psychology. He says,* " You 
make a great mistake, if you think that psychology, 
being the science of the mind's laws, is sometliing from 
which you can deduce definite programmes and schemes 
and methods of instruction for immediate schoolroom 
use. . . . Everywhere the teaching must agree with the 
psychology, but need not be the only kind of teaching, 
that would so agree with psychological laws." He further 
adds, "To know psychology, therefore, is absolutely no 
guaranty that we shall be good teachers. To advance to 
that result, we must have an additional endowment alto- 
gether, a happy tact and ingenuity to tell us what definite 
things to say and do when the pupil is before us. That 
ingenuity in meeting and pursuing the pupil, that tact for 
the concrete situations, though they are the alpha and 
omega of the teacher's art, are things to which psychology 
cannot help us in the least. But if the use of psychological 
principles thus be negative rather than positive, it does 
not follow that it may not be a great use, all the same. It 
certainly narrows the path for experiments and trials. We 
know in advance, if we are psychologists, that certain 
methods will be wrong, so our psychology saves us from 
mistakes. It makes us, moreover, more clear as to what 
we are about. We gain confidence in respect to any 
method which we are using as soon as we believe that it 
has theory as well as practice at its back. Most of all, 
it fructifies our independence, and it reanimates our in- 
» "Talks to Teachers," p. 7. 



INTRODUCTION 5 

terest, to see our subject at two different angles — to get 
a stereoscopic view, so to speak, of the youthful organism 
who is an enemy, and, while handling him with all our 
concrete tact and divination, to be able, at the same time, 
to represent to ourselves the curious inner elements of his 
mental machine. Such a complete knowledge as this of 
the pupil, at once intuitive and analytic, is surely the knowl- 
edge at which every teacher ought to aim. 

"Fortunately for you teachers, the elements of the 
mental machine can be clearly apprehended, and their 
workings easily grasped. And, as the most general ele- 
ments and workings are just those parts of psychology 
which the teacher finds most directly useful, it follows that 
the amount of this science which is necessary to all teachers 
need not be very great." 

Accepting in general this view, we may think of the field 
of psychology as dealing with the laws and activities of 
the mind; as including a study of instinct, imitation, sense- 
perception, memory, imagination, reasoning, generalizing; 
and, in a teacher's course, the consideration of psychologi- 
cal phenomena — the study of children. Pedagogy treats 
of the application of the principles discovered by psycho- 
logical research. It is based on ethics as well as on psy- 
chology, ethics pointing out the end of education, and 
psychology, the way, the means of reaching the end. 
Pedagogy, according to Rosenkranz, treats of the aim, the 
nature, and the form of education. It discusses the rela- 
tion of teachers to pupils; it considers the various factors 
of education, such as, the home, the school, the store, 
society, and the church; it treats of methods of instruction, 
of the school program, of the course of study, of physical, 



6 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

intellectual, and moral growth; of securing and holding 
the attention; of interest; of the formation of habits, of 
self-activity, of that discipline which aims at self-control. 
In a word, it views the whole development of the individual, 
not only during school life, but after leaving school, and 
seeks to compass that development in a natural, systematic, 
logical, and economical manner. 

If some topics, such as habit, attention, self-activity, 
memory, imagination, reason, etc., receive treatment in 
both psychology and pedagogy, the former considers the 
mental laws involved, while the latter considers their 
practical application to educational problems. The con- 
sideration of the same subjects from a double standpoint, 
namely, that of psychology and that of pedagogy, thus, 
instead of being a waste may prove to be the very best 
economy. To quote again from Professor James, "It 
reanimates our interest — to see our subject at two dif- 
ferent angles." The study of psychology, which precedes 
that of pedagogy, prepares the student to comprehend the 
field undertaken by pedagogy, and to apply the principles 
discovered to living and practical educational problems. 

While the field of pedagogy embraces history of educa- 
tion, school management, methods, psychology, and ethics, 
just as geometry embraces arithmetic and algebra, a knowl- 
edge of these subjects is presupposed, and therefore they 
are not considered here. The question before us is of 
educational philosophy; of the problems of educational 
thought rather than of school practice; of theories that 
are to be established; of principles that shall guide in con- 
structing courses of study, in the employment of methods, 
in formulating schedules, and in school government; and 



INTRODUCTION 7 

of that all-round and complete development of the child 
which shall prepare him for good citizenship, and which 
shall enable him to make the most of the capacity that 
God has given him. 

Summary 

Pedagogy is the science of teaching. It states the aim, 
determines the nature, and marks the limits of educatiofi. 
It presupposes psychology, is founded upon ethics, and em- 
braces in its scope history of education, school management, 
and method. It discusses educational problems from a phil- 
osophical standpoint and shows their application. 



CHAPTER II 

THE AIM OF EDUCATION 

References. — Rosenkranz, Philosophy of Education; Prince, 
Courses and Methods; McMurry, General Method; Spencer, Edu- 
cation; Payne, Contributions to the Science of Education; Parker, 
Talks on Pedagogics; De Motte, Character Building; Payne, Edu- 
cation of Teachers; Roark, Method in Education; Colcr, Character 
Building; Home, Philosophy of Education; Shearer, Morals and 
Manners; Smith, Systematic Methodology; White, School Man- 
agement; Elements of Pedagogy; Laurie, Primary Instruction; 
Barnett, Common Sense in Education and Teaching; Briggs, School, 
College, and Character. 

The question, "What is the aim of education?" has 
engaged the attention of thinkers for many centuries. The 
answer to it has been colored by national characteristics, 
by the needs of a people, by the spirit that has dominated 
the age, and by the state of civilization attained. Indeed, 
the answer to this question may have had a great deal to 
do in forming the character of individuals and of nations, 
and in making prominent certain influences which have 
affected the world in different ages. In Cliina, for example, 
the aim of education for thousands of years has been to 
maintain the established order of society, and to teach 
respect for traditions and ancestral customs. In India, 
it was to preserve the ancient castes, and prepare for absorp- 
tion into Nirvana. In Persia and Sparta, it was to pre- 
pare for war, to give physical strength, and foster moral 
rectitude. To the early Jews, it meant training to respect 
laWj and reverence Jehovah. Athens would have a beau- 

8 



THE AIM OF EDUCATION 9 

tiful soul in a beautiful body, while the ideal in Rome was 
"To make a man fit to perform justly, skilfully, and mag- 
nanimously all the offices, both public and private, of 
peace and war." 

The aim of education according to Socrates was "To 
dispel error and discover truth," while Plato defined it to 
be, "To give the body and soul all the beauty and all the 
perfection of which they are capable," a definition which 
was quite Athenian. Quintilian, on the other hand, voiced 
the spirit of the Rome of his period by teaching that the 
purpose of education was to make orators. Seneca anti- 
cipated Herbert Spencer when he declared that education 
is "Not for school, but for life." Charlemagne, with the 
wise statesmanship which comprehended the existing con- 
ditions in which only the favored few received any educa- 
tion at all, declared the aim of education to be "To make 
intelligent citizens." Very naturally the monastic schools 
sought to make education further the interests of the 
Church, while, on the other hand, the Burgher schools 
would train for the practical needs of life. 

Modern educators have also considered the problem 
from the standpoint of modern conditions, and as civiliza- 
tion has advanced, their answer to the question becomes 
broader and more comprehensive. Comenius, the Mora- 
vian preacher, declares the aim to be, "To attain eternal 
happiness in and with God, through Education." Francke, 
the Pietist, who founded the great orphan asylum at Halle, 
says it is "To prepare for a life of usefulness and piety," 
while Locke, the great English philosopher, who had 
been an invalid all his life, borrows from Aristotle an idea 
which he sums up in the words, "A sound mind in a sound 



10 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

body." Pestalozzi, with perhaps a larger vision than any 
of his predecessors, says it is the "Natural, progressive, and 
systematic development of all the powers of man." Froebel 
adds to this idea when he defines it to be, "To direct the 
natural activities to useful ends." 

Spencer's Definition. — Perhaps Spencer's definition of 
education has received tlie most general acceptance; it 
has at least provoked the widest discussion. He says, 
"To prepare us for complete living is the function which 
education has to discharge; and the only rational mode 
of judging of any educational course is, to judge in what 
degree it discharges such function." Tlie difliculty with 
this definition is that it needs defining, for one may well 
ask, "What is complete living?" To the Indian in the 
far West it would mean plenty of game, freedom from re- 
straint, with absence of what men call work; to the devotee 
of fashion, the whirl of society, the admiration of others, 
the gratification of the desire for personal adornment; to 
the actor, the excitement, applause, and environment of 
the play-house; to the enthusiast in any vocation or enter- 
prise, the fulfillment of his ambitious purposes and success 
in whatever undertaken. To the Chinaman it would mean 
one thing, to the Hindu another, and to the Frenchman 
another. In one age it would require one interpretation 
and in a different age another. It is true that education 
is adaptation to the age or the people involved, as we have 
already seen. But Waitz says, "There must be a universal 
pedagogy for Greeks and Romans, as well as for pagans, 
Jews, and Christians; for ancient and modern peoples; for 
those of original as well as those of derived culture." It 



THE AIM OF EDUCATION II 

will be obvious, then, that "complete living" as a defini- 
tion of education does not suffice, inasmuch as it needs 
interpretation as to its meaning, and as that meaning varies 
according to ideals and circumstances. 

The most of the definitions quoted regard education as 
an aim. Many educators, especially German, consider it 
from the standpoint of its Latin root- word, educere, to lead 
forth; they interpret it to mean to bring up the child. To 
them education is a process rather than an ahn. Thus 
Rosenkranz defines it as follows: "Education is the influ- 
encing of man by man, and it has for its end to lead him 
to actualize himself tlirough his own efforts. The attain- 
ment of perfect manhood as the actualization of the free- 
dom essential to mind constitutes the nature of education 
in general."^ Waitz also says, "In education two indi- 
viduals stand opposite each other, one ripe and in a meas- 
ure at least master of himself, and the other possessing 
possibilities, but still largely undeveloped, but capable of 
responding to external influences."^ 

The methods of instruction practiced in the German 
schools are the natural outgrowth of this conception. The 
teacher instructs, the pupils learn; the teacher leads, the 
pupils follow; the teacher is the fountain of knowledge, 
the pupils draw from him; the teacher is the wise master, 
the pupils possess the possibilities of learning. There is 
a great difference between the two which the process of 
education seeks to cancel. Education is to be attained 
by means of instruction (Erziehende-Unterricht) through 
the influence of the teacher upon the pupil. 

' "Philosophy of Education," p. i. 
* "Padagogik," p. 39. 



12 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

Education as an Aim. — The purpose here is to study 
education as an aim rather than as a process, although the 
student should consider the subject from both standpoints. 
What is the aim of education for any people or of any age ? 
We answer, Education is tJie harmonious development of all 
the powers of man, and has for its purpose the formation of 
good character. Teachers for all time have sought to train 
their pupils to be good men, but only recently has the prin- 
ciple been stated as a formal doctrine. With a clear and 
definite principle fixed in the mind, a purpose is more 
likely to be carried out than if there be merely a vague idea 
of an end to be reached without a formulated statement 
concerning that end. One should not only possess a notion 
of the end to be sought, but also be able to express that 
notion in a clear manner. Hence the statement of the 
end of education as character building marks an advance 
in pedagogical practice and theory. 

While the preceding definition is definite in statement 
and clear in meaning, a discussion of it may serve to 
throw light upon the problem of education itself. 

Harmonious Development. — Some one has said, "Edu- 
cation considers the physical, intellectual, and moral nature 
of the child. Any system of education which cultivates 
only one of these, not recognizing the others, is a failure. 
Train only the physical faculties of your child, and you 
make an animal of him; cultivate his moral nature exclu- 
sively, and you develop a fanatic; direct all your attention 
to his intellectual faculties, and you may produce a prodigy, 
but you will ruin him for usefulness in life. True educa- 
tion consists in so stimulating the development of the phy- 



THE AIM OF EDUCATION 1 3 

sical, moral, and intellectual nature of the child as that he 
may be fitted to occupy the best position in life that his 
natural powers permit, that he may be useful to his fellow- 
men and of value to the community, that he may be as 
important a factor as possible in making the world better." 
No one would say that the pugilist or the athlete meets 
the ideal of education because of his muscle or his physical 
skill. It must not be denied, however, that physical devel- 
opment has its place in school work, probably a far greater 
place than it now occupies, that is, physical training of the 
right sort. When it fulfills its true function in education 
greatest stress will not be laid upon, and enthusiasm awak- 
ened concerning foot-ball, base-ball, track athletics, or some 
special interest that attracts only a small proportion of 
the student body. There is no objection to these in them- 
selves, and they should be encouraged and maintained. 
But they meet only a fraction of the whole number and, 
therefore, do not satisfy the demand for general physical 
culture as an educational means. Indeed, the few highly 
trained athletes become the center of attraction of the wliole 
school, not for educational purposes, but as the represen- 
tatives of the institution, who are to win glory for her in 
a field far from educational. A half a score of men, trained 
to the highest limit, reach perfection as athletes and repre- 
sent their school, while the hundreds look on and get no 
suitable training. At least, the athletic sports as now 
practiced do not foster general physical culture in the 
whole student body. The ideal will be reached when 
physical culture is not only a general requirement, but a 
universal joy to all youth of both sexes who are being 
educated. This kind of development is educational, and 



14 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

it is an end to be most zealously sought for in all our 
schools. 

As to the need of intellectual development, there is una- 
nimity of opinion. Indeed, the principal criticism that 
might be offered concerning educational practice is that 
it has ignored the other sides of man's nature and given 
its entire attention to the intellectual. Train the mind, 
awaken the mental activities, stimulate and direct the in- 
tellectual powers, has been the key-note of educational 
philosophy, and the chief theme of educational practice, 
for ages. There is no disposition to minimize the impor- 
tance or value of intellectual training. It will continue to 
require the greater part of the time of the school and the 
thought of educators. From the standpoint of the atten- 
tion it demands, it will always be the most important 
feature of education. The principal discussions which 
follow in this book have a bearing upon intellectual devel- 
opment. But it must not monopolize the whole thought 
of educators nor be the sole theme considered. Nor 
must man be considered as a being that can be divided into 
physical, intellectual, moral, etc. It is the whole man that 
is to be educated. 

Moral training must receive due attention. Indeed, 
to omit the ethical side of education is to add to the power 
to do evil, for the better and acuter the intellectual train- 
ing the more dangerous the individual becomes, provided 
there is no moral foundation. To omit moral training is 
to make education dangerous. It is not the purpose at 
this time to discuss the character of moral training needed, 
but merely to call attention to the fact that it is needed to 
produce well-rounded and complete education such as our 



THE AIM OF EDUCATION 1 5 

detinition demands. It must not be forgotten that we 
are considering the sufficiency of the definition for our 
purpose rather than a treatment of its various phases, 
which is the task of the whole book. 

It may be urged that the teaching of religion is impos- 
sible in the American public school, and therefore it is 
needless to add this to the definition. In reply we would 
say in the first place, that it is not admitted that religion 
cannot be taught in the public school; but rather, indeed, 
it will be maintained that religion in its best and truest 
sense is taught in these schools, and must be taught so 
long as the great majority of the teachers believe in God 
and practice righteousness, and so long as history, literature, 
and science abound in illustrations and lessons founded upon 
a belief in Divine Providence. (See Chap. XVIII.) In the 
second place, it should be remarked that the school is not 
the sole factor responsible for the education of the child, and 
that education is the sum of all influences wherever obtained 
— the home, the school, the church, society, and the State. 
Therefore, a definition of the aim of education must take 
into account all the influences involved, and surely religion 
is a most important factor in every man's education. 

All of these powers — the physical, intellectual^ moral, 
and spiritual — are to be harmoniously developed for a pur- 
pose, and that purpose is good character. This is the end 
that the teacher should have in view from the first. The 
teaching of arithmetic, geography, history, language, science, 
has a much broader meaning than the mere mastery of 
these subjects for practical purposes as a means of bread- 
winning, however necessary this may be. Their practical 
value is not despised, and this end must certainly be in 



l6 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

view; but there must be a higher aim ever present, namely, 
that of employing this teaching and these subjects as a 
means of forming character as an ultimate and highest 
aim. 

What is Character? — But what is character? may be 
asked. Character has been defined as a "completely 
formed will." What a person wills constantly and persist- 
ently gives him character. A good character is where 
the volitions are in the right direction. Rev. J. Richards 
Boyle says concerning character:^ ''Never before was man- 
hood so necessary to the world as it is to-day. For never 
before had it such immense responsibility and such tre- 
mendous power. The supreme question of the century 
is the question of personal character. The nation that 
can grow a worthy manhood and womanhood can live. 
It is immortal. The nation whose personal life deterio- 
rates is already smitten with death. Character is the only 
conserving and conquering power. 

"Now, what power can guarantee the life and progress 
of the twentieth century civilization? What can control 
and overthrow its reactionary and disintegrating forces, 
and perpetuate and perfect its beneficent growth? What 
is to decide the conflict on the final battlefield of earthly 
life? Are mere numbers or material wealth to do this? 
Can government, can armies, can navies, as such, do it? 
Civilizations have expired notwithstanding all these agen- 
cies. In the last analysis there is only one human power 
that can assure the endurance of present conditions and 
carry them safely forward to their consummations. And 
* Address before the students of Grant University. 



THE AIM OF EDUCATION 1 7 

that power is true manhood and womanhood. The indi- 
vidual Hfe is evermore the determining factor in associated 
life. As the man is, so must the nation and the world 
ever be. And the problem of the race is not the produc- 
tion of wealth, nor the marshaling of armies, nor the enact- 
ment of laws, but the development of human character. I 
have said that one of the most significant facts of modern 
life is the rise of the personal man. I now declare that 
the most essential and important necessity of the world's 
stability and prosperity is his growth and equipment." 

The men who have been conspicuously a blessing to this 
country — Washington, Lincoln, Grant, McKinley — have 
been men not distinguished by wealth, by the endowments 
of nature, or by the favor of men, but by their strong per- 
sonality. George H. Martin says, "The early life of 
Washington is singularly transparent as to the creation 
and influence of the ideal. We see how one quality after 
another was added until the character became complete. 
Manly strength, athletic power and skill, appear first; then, 
courtesy and refined manners, temperance, consideration 
for others; then, careful and exact business habits; then, 
military qualities; then, devotion to public service. Stead- 
ily but rapidly, the transforming work went on, until the 
Man was complete; the ideal was realized. Henceforth, 
the character, the man, appears under all the forms of 
occupation and office. Legislator, commander, president, 
the man is in them all, though he is none of them. Cincin- 
natus at the plow is Cincinnatus still. Wasliington at 
sixty, moving in the clamor and confusion of the Genet 
episode, is the same careful, prudent, patient, dignified, 
self-respecting, self-controlled, patriotic, masterful man 



t8 elementary pedagogy 

that he had begun to be at twenty-one, when he went on 
his mission to the French forts on the Ohio." 

One other quotation from the pen of the Rev. J. G. K. 
McClure concerning character must suffice. He says, 
"The best thing in the world is a good man. The 
greatest thing in this world is a great good man. The 
most blessed thing in this world is a blessed good man. 
The first thing that a human being should recognize about 
himself is that his character is his distinguishing feature. 
It is not the amount of money, the amount of power, the 
amount of brains that a man has that is his distinguishing 
feature, but his character. Whatever his fellow-men may 
temporarily say or do to the contrary, this is a fact, that 
what separates him from others and gives him his individ- 
uality is his goodness or lack of goodness, according to 
its degree. Money, power, brains, have their place, and 
they do exert an influence in temporarily deciding a man's 
position and recognition. But the standard of the ages, 
by which any one and every one is tried, is character; and 
in God's sight, which is the final and determining sight, 
men are what they are in their wishes and purposes. It 
is not, then, too much to say that the supreme ambition of 
a person's life should be to secure a worthy character." 

Character is not considered as embracing the ethical 
side only; but it involves the physical, intellectual, moral, 
and spiritual attributes; it means such development of 
hand, head, and heart as will prepare a man to serve his 
fellow-men, to bring out the best that is in him, and to 
fulfill the will of the Creator. To attain this surely is the 
aim of education. 



THE AIM OF EDUCATION 19 

Other Views. — Thus far the discussion has held closely 
to the aim of education, stress being laid upon the ethical 
view. Another view considers education more from the 
cultural standpoint and seeks to secure complete develop- 
ment, moral, and religious as well, through the mastery 
of the branches necessary to an all-round education. It 
may be profitable briefly to consider what these branches 
are and to note their utility in connection with the question 
under discussion. Dr. James M. Green defines education 
as follows: "Education is the development of the powers 
of the mind by exercising them in the various common 
channels of thought necessary to make one masterful in 
his environment." As to the "common channels of 
thought," quite a unanimity of opinion among educational 
thinkers is found. Dr. Green says, "The mental ener- 
gies of the race have grouped themselves under these com- 
mon channels, namely, mathematics, science, history, lan- 
guage, aesthetics, ethics, and economics." No harmonious 
development can be secured that omits any one of these 
branches. 

Dr. De Garmo remarks,* " It may be assumed, first of 
all, that a normal, well-educated man should at least be 
intelhgent concerning the conquests of his race in all the 
distinct fields of its endeavor. He need not, indeed, be 
master of Greek, Spanish, calculus, ontology, physical 
chemistry, geology, civil engineering, law, medicine, theol- 
ogy; but he should at least know that these studies exist, 
comprehend something of their respective functions, and 
be familiar with some of their elements. In other words, 
the normally constituted mind should dwell, for a time at 
* "Interest and Education," p. 61. 



20 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

least, upon each distinctive department of important 
human knowledge." He then classifies these departments 
into three groups, namely, (i) the human sciences, embrac- 
ing languages, ancient and modern, literature, art, and 
history; (2) the natural sciences, such as physics, chemistry, 
and astronomy with their basis of pure mathematics, the 
biological sciences, and the earth sciences — physical geog- 
raphy and geology; and (3) the economic sciences, which 
include economics proper, technology, and commercial 
knowledge. 

President Eliot marks out the four great divisions of 
knowledge as, languages, history, mathematics, and natural 
science, and urges that these "should all be adequately 
represented" in the course of study at all times. 

Dr. Harris names five coordinate groups as follows: lan- 
guage, arithmetic, geography, history, and other branches, 
and he insists that, "From the primary school on through 
the academic course of the college, there should be five 
coordinate groups of studies represented at each part of 
the course." 

President Butler ^ thinks that there should be a center 
or core around which the students' work should be formed, 
and this core should have three constituent elements, 
namely," (i) the study of language; (2) the study of de- 
ductive reasoning, in mathematics and formal logic; (3) 
the study of inductive method, in experimental science, 
and, in part, in history. If it is provided that the course 
pursued by every student must contain a subject selected 
from each of these tliree classes, we may safely trust to the 
student's tastes, needs, and ambitions, together with the 

' Educational Review, Vol. XVI, p. 23. 



THE AIM OF EDUCATION 2l 

advice of his parents and teachers, both to select the speci- 
fied subjects, and to add to them others that He outside 
those classes. He cannot very well fail to make a satis- 
factory course. Tliis arrangement suits equally well the 
student who has a college course in view, or liis fellow who 
looks forward to a scientific school, an agricultural college, 
a technical institute, a business career, or indeed any other 
form of occupation." 

Thus, through exercising the faculties in these "common 
channels of thought," which are generally accepted as 
necessary, and in all of these channels, the individual is 
led to understand his environment, to utilize it, and to 
command its forces for his own personal welfare and hap- 
piness, and for the good of his fellow-men. Just in so 
far as this end is attained, the aim of education is realized. 
These two phases of the general subject are set forth in the 
summary. 

Summary 

I. The aim of education is the harmonious development 
of all the powers of man to the end that good character may 
he formed. 

II. Education is the development of the powers of the 
mind by exercising them in the various common channels 
of thought necessary to make one masterful in his environ- 
ment. 



CHAPTER III 

THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION 

References. — Morgan, Studies in Pedagogy; Payne, Lectures 
on Teaching; Page, Theory and Practice; Roark, Method in Edu- 
cation; Colcr, Character Building; Ogdcn, Science of Education; 
London, School Management; McMurry, Method of the Reci- 
tation; O'Shea, Education as Adjustment; Educational Review, 
Vol. I; Tate, Philosophy of Education. 

The question as to whether or not there is a science of 
education has been under discussion for many years. 
Many assert that there exist only scraps of scientific edu- 
cational knowledge, that there are no mutual purposes and 
no common grounds that hold teachers together as in 
law or medicine, so essential in a profession, and that, 
therefore, it is folly to talk of the profession of teaching, or 
of a science of education. Others, on the other hand, with 
equal insistence, affirm that education is entitled to a place 
among the sciences. They point to the fact that other 
countries, especially Germany, have long recognized peda- 
gogy as being on a scientific basis, according to it the dig- 
nity of a place among university subjects, and sustaining 
chairs to promulgate its teaching. 

Opinions as to the Science of Education. — Superintend- 
ent Soldan says, " No matter how limited the strictly scien- 
tific domain of education is considered to be, it cannot be 
denied that there is such a science, and it should be mas- 
tered before the practical duties of teaching are assumed." 



THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION 23 

Supt. James M. Greenwood says, "The hypothesis that 
one line of work, human development, is not susceptible 
to any law, that education is not a science, is a matter of 
chance caprice, is to affirm that there is one great realm of 
human activity not subject to law. This leads to a strange 
inconsistency. Is there not a large body of educational 
literature written upon the nature, the activity, and the 
development of the human body and soul — a set of prin- 
ciples founded upon human nature in all its phases, deter- 
mining the nature, the function, and the limits of educa- 
tion, and are not these principles as elementary as are 
those of any one of the physical or mathematical sciences, 
and do not these embrace the very deepest problems of 
philosophy and of life, and have a self- justification in the 
subject-matter they cover ? 

"For forty years, the chief effort of the leading educators 
of the United States has been to place teaching on the 
same professional basis that law and medicine now hold 
in the public mind. It is a profession having its history, 
its body of doctrines, and its methods as sharply defined 
as other professions. A handful of opponents, however, 
claim that molding and developing a human being can 
lay no claim to scientific or rational treatment. They 
hold, without good reason, that all teaching is experi- 
mental, and in its very nature cannot be reduced to a 
scientific basis. The two most scientific nations of Cliris- 
tendom, Germany and France, treat it as a science and 
one that can be learned and practiced. Compayr^, the 
leading pedagogical lecturer of France, says, * To under- 
take the direction of education without having analyzed 
the faculties of human nature, would be to run the risk 



24 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

of committing the grossest errors; it would be to go astray, 
to walk at random like a traveler in an unknown country 
without a map before him. On the other hand, equipped 
with proper psychological observations, the educator is 
prepared to determine the theoretical and general laws 
which govern the development of mind and character. 
Now, without the key which psychology puts into our 
hands, the child would remain to us an insoluble enigma.' "^ 

Professor O'Shea thinks that inasmuch as certain prin- 
ciples of education have long been believed and have stood 
the test of time, there is evidence of science. He observes,^ 
"Is it safe to say that articles of belief in education which 
have been held by generation after generation, and tested 
by them, and are as fresh to-day as ever — is it safe to 
say that such principles are scientific? that they express 
in a truthful way certain relations of the race to the world ? " 

"And have not such principles really been established in 
conformity to the requirements of effective method ? Every 
induction in any field and at any time leads at first to a 
hypothesis, which does not become a law until it is tried 
under varying circumstances and not found wanting. 
Newton thus formulated the principle of gravitation first 
as an hypothesis ; men have been working with it ever since, 
and to-day they believe it is a law, for it has never failed 
to work in any situation in which it has been tried. So 
men have been working with certain principles of educa- 
tion for a much longer period than they have worked with 
the law of gravitation, and they have stood the test." 

Professor Roark remarks,^ "The science of education 

' Annual address to the teachers of Kansas City, Mo., 1904. 
' "Education as Adjustment," p. 27. 
^ "Method in Education," p. 10. 



THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION 2$ 

is justifying itself so admirably in these latter days when 
educational matters are on everybody's tongue and on the 
pages of every popular periodical, that those who deny 
teaching a place among the liberal professions have a 
heavy burden of proof to carry. The question of method 
has forced an asking in all the higher institutions of learn- 
ing, and there is hardly a college or university in this coun- 
try to-day that does not have its department of pedagogy." 
Later in this chapter we shall give a number of such 
principles that have been long taught and that find uni- 
versal acceptance. 

Science Defined. — Perhaps the discussion will be some- 
what clearer if a definition of the term of science be agreed 
upon. Webster defines science as "Accumulated and 
established knowledge, which has been systematized and 
formulated with reference to the discovery of general 
truths or the operation of general laws; knowledge clas- 
sified and made available in work, life, or the search for 
truth; comprehensive, profound, or philosophical knowl- 
edge." Sir William Hamilton says, Science is "a com- 
plement of cognitions, having, in point of form, the char- 
acter of logical perfection, and, in point of matter, the 
character of real truth." In point of form, it will not be 
claimed that education has reached logical perfection, and, 
from the very nature of things, it will never be possible 
for it to reach such perfection as is the case with the science 
of mathematics, physics, or botany. Like psychology, it 
deals with mental activities, and therefore complete exact- 
ness can never be expected. But in point of matter, edu- 
cation has certainly reached much that bears the character 
of real truth. 



26 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

With the limitations given in the definition of science, i.e.^ 
"Accumulated and established knowledge, which has been 
systematized and formulated with reference to the dis- 
covery of general truths or the operation of general laws," 
the question arises, Have a sufficient number of principles 
been established such as to warrant the claims of a science ? 
That many principles are universally accepted all will 
agree. Whether or not sufficient progress has been made 
to meet the claims of a science, or whether these are mere 
isolated truths, upon which all agree, is the rock upon which 
educators split. A comparison of opinions upon this point 
may throw some light upon the question. Tate says,^ 
"Practical teachers, as well as the public generally, had, 
until recently, regarded education more as an art than 
as a science, consisting merely of a few arbitrary and empir- 
ical rules which may be modified or altered to suit the 
tastes and attainments of the teacher, or to answer the 
opinions and circumstances of the managers of schools. 
This unfortunate prejudice has, no doubt, had its origin, 
to a great extent, in the fact that the greater part of the 
teachers were unfit for their ofhce. . . . The science of 
education must be based upon the nature of the being to 
be educated; that is to say, upon the laws which govern 
the development of the intellectual and moral faculties. 
These laws may be determined as well by observation as 
by psychological analysis. Every faculty of our nature has 
its proper period and peculiar mode of development." 
Further he adds, "The art of education, without a due 
regard to its science, degenerates into empiricism; and the 
science, without the piactice of the art, becomes little 

* "Philosophy of Education," pp. 14, 19. 



THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION 27 

better than a code of barren abstractions without the vital 
principle of development. The philosophy of education 
should go in hand with the practice of it: every step of 
advance taken by the one should be followed by corre- 
sponding progress of the other; philosophy should suggest 
plans and theories, art should test and try them; philosophy 
should build up a structure of general principles and rules, 
art should supply the facts — the materials — by which, 
and upon which, this structure should be reared." 

To quote a brief paragraph from a thorough discussion 
of this point by a recognized authority,^ "The science of 
pedagogics ... is still incomplete in its matter, all its first 
principles not having been formulated; and it is imperfect 
in form, its admitted principles not having been arranged, 
and deductions from them not having been made with 
the required completeness and order. Whoever takes an 
established psychological law and draws from it legitimate 
deductions that can be employed for guidance in educa- 
tional work, has made a contribution to the science of 
pedagogics ; and works like Bain's ' Education as a Science,' 
and Rosenkranz's 'Pedagogics as a System,' that discuss 
in a comprehensive way the doctrines of education, are 
actual treatises on the science of pedagogics. ... A 
science of pedagogics exists as an actual fact, but it is still 
incomplete in matter and imperfect in form. The need of 
the hour is a systematic rearrangement of the old material, 
and the addition of omitted principles and their deductions."^ 

* Payne's "Contributions to the Science of Education," p. 3. 

' Many other authors discuss this question. I call especial attention 
to McMurry's "Method of the Recitation," p. i, for a full treatment of 
Ithis topic. 



28 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

We believe that there is a science of education for reasons 
which follow. 

I. Because of educational principles established. It may 
be profitable to call attention to some of the educational 
principles that are universally accepted, as well as to those 
that are still debatable. No one can furnish a complete list 
of established pedagogical truths any more than any one 
can tabulate the mental activities as presented in psychol- 
ogy. As in psychology, so in pedagogy, there is abun- 
dant debatable ground. In both, some of the disputed 
points will ultimately be established and thus add new 
principles to perfect their respective science, while others 
will be rejected as lacking the element of a scientific basis. 
One can easily recall numerous discussions within the last 
generation in which pedagogical themes have been treated, 
some to secure a permanent place in educational doctrine, 
while others have entirely dropped out of consideration. 
We may mention such questions as the duty of the state 
to provide education for all children, and the right to tax 
the people therefor ; her right to extend free education 
beyond the elementary school ; compulsory school atten- 
dance ; the introduction of the kindergarten, manual 
training, drawing, music, etc. These questions are 
settled for all time in the educational policy of this 
country. More strictly scientific and pedagogical ques- 
tions, such as, the training of the senses by means of object 
teaching, the doctrine of interest, of apperception, or corre- 
lation, have each received its share of attention, and to each 
has been accorded its permanent place in educational 
theory. 

It seems as if the past quarter of a century has been 



THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION 29 

the most productive in the discussion and settlement of 
educational questions, as well as in suggesting new prob- 
lems to be solved, of any period in the world's history. 
And yet the history of education shows that individuals 
and peoples have met and settled many educational ques- 
tions. The following may be mentioned in illustration, 
quoting from Karl Schmidt: "In Greece at last the idea 
of human individuality as the principal end, and not as a 
means to an end, was grasped. Conformable to this 
truth, all human, social, and pohtical conditions were 
shaped and education given its form. This idea of the 
emancipation of the individual became established in 
Greece with a brilliancy which attracts attention to that 
land until the present time." 

Plato taught that the aim of education is to bring all 
the powers of man into harmonious cooperation, a principle 
upon which the Herbartians have laid great stress during 
the latter half of the nineteenth century. 

Aristotle believed that pedagogy should be based upon 
a knowledge of the individual, and in his method he pro- 
ceeded "from the concrete to the abstract," teachings that 
have universal acceptance in modern education. 

Cicero held that the amusements and the environments 
of the child should be such as elevate and refine, as well 
as properly to develop his powers. These are the same 
truths that Pestalozzi worked out in his object teaching, 
and Froebel in the kindergarten. 

Seneca commanded respect for the office and person 
of the teacher in these words: "Such a man, who con- 
secrates his whole being to our good, and who awakens 
our dormant faculties, is deserving all the esteem that we 



30 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

give a benevolent physician or our most loved and dearest 
kindred." 

Quintilian, among many other pedagogical precepts, 
held that children should begin early with a foreign tongue, 
as their own language will come to them naturally in their 
intercourse with those about them. 

The Great Teacher by precept and practice taught that 
all education is for the individual. Of Him, Karl Schmidt 
says, "Christ, the perfect teacher, gave by his example and 
by his own teaching the eternal principles of pedagogy." 

Charlemagne taught the principle of universal educa- 
tion, that every child has a right to an education, a prin- 
ciple that is accepted by most civilized countries of the 
world. He also taught compulsory school attendance. He 
believed, too, that girls as well as boys should be educated. 

Erasmus held that during the first six years little should 
be done with the education of the child save to develop a 
strong body; also that religious training should not be 
neglected. 

The Jesuits made their schools interesting, and learning 
pleasant. They urged that the teacher must be specially 
trained for the duties of his office. 

Rabelais placed the study of the sciences in the front 
rank, thereby starting a movement that has revolutionized 
courses of study and educational methods, and anticipated 
Herbert Spencer. 

Bacon furthered this work by his discovery of the in- 
ductive method, and made application of it in science 
through experiment, investigation, and verification. 

Ratke followed the order of nature, thereby anticipating 
Rousseau and modern nature study. Comenius follows 



THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION 31 

the same thought when he says, "If we would teach and 
learn, surely we must follow the order of Nature." "Let 
everything be presented through the senses." "Proceed 
from the easy to the difficult, from the general to the special, 
from the known to the unknown." "Learn to do by 
doing." "Learn language by use rather than by precept." 

F^nelon also anticipated Froebel by teaching that all 
instruction must be made pleasant and interesting, and 
that the instinct of play should be utihzed in teaching. 
"Present the thing before its name, the idea before the 
word." "Morality should be taught early by means of 
fables, stories, and concrete examples." 

Francke believed that teachers should be trained, and 
carried out this thought in connection with his orphan 
asylum. 

Pestalozzi taught the harmonious development of all 
the human powers. "Instruction, especially for young 
children, should be based upon observation." " The 
mother is the natural educator of the child in its early 
years." Dr. Harris says of Pestalozzi, "He is the first 
teacher to announce convincingly the doctrine that all 
people should be educated, that, in fact, education is the 
one good gift to give to all whether rich or poor." 

Rein says, "Froebel gave the world the kindergarten, 
while Herbart elevated education to the dignity of a 
science." ^ 

It will not be claimed that all the pedagogical theories 
and principles above enunciated are universally accepted 
and established. But many of them are so established, 

* For the statement of many more educational maxims, I refer the reader 
to the svimmaries following each chapter in my "History of Education." 



32 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

and many more might be added. It would seem, therefore, 
that in the field of education enough that is fundamental 
is fixed to warrant the claim that there is a science of 
education. 

2. Because of scientific works on education. — A second 
argument is found in the numerous scientific and philo- 
sophical works on this subject with which educational litera- 
ture abounds. The output in this field during recent 
years has been remarkable, and this output increases year 
by year. Discussions of educational philosophy have 
claimed the attention of the profoundest thinkers and the 
wisest men of the world, not only among teachers, but also 
from every class of men. 

These discussions have found their way into educational 
books and periodicals, and also into popular magazines 
and papers, showing that interest has been awakened 
outside the field of the professional teacher. Every year 
more than three hundred books and articles on education 
that are worthy of serious consideration, appear in the 
English language alone,^ while in other languages a like 
activity is manifest. Surely, such a wonderful activity 
could not be expected if there were no science of 
education. 

Mr. Greenwood says, " With a pedagogical literature that 
represents hundreds of volumes in English, more than two 
thousand in French, and more voluminous still in German, 
there is hardly a valid excuse why any one who assumes to 
teach in a public or private school should be ignorant of 
the existence of this great treasure-house of educational 
knowledge." 

^ See the annual June number of the Educational Review. 



THE SCIENCE OF EDUCATION 33 

3. Because of organizations for the study of education. — 
Teachers' organizations, which meet periodically to con- 
sider educational questions, from the National Educational 
Association down to the smallest teachers' club, furnish 
an evidence that there is a science of education. It is true 
that other societies, like labor organizations, meet to discuss 
their rights and formulate plans for united action; but 
there is this vital difference, — the former, like medical, 
law, and theological associations, meet to discuss the great 
questions which affect the welfare and progress of the race, 
while the latter busy themselves with their own interests 
and ends. In teachers' meetings are presented the experi- 
ences and conclusions of men devoted to the elevation of 
mankind and to the furtherance of altruistic principles. 
Such meetings contribute to the sum of pedagogical knowl- 
edge and confirm the truth that education is a science. 

4. Because chairs for the study of education are main- 
tained. — A most convincing and practical reason for the 
belief that there is a science of education, lies in the fact 
that pedagogical chairs have been established in colleges 
and universities, and that normal schools, training classes, 
etc., are maintained at great expense. Legislators and 
philanthropists are not likely to devote large sums of money 
to maintain a science that has no existence. 

5. Because educators have long recognized it as a sci- 
ence. — German thinkers and the German educational 
authorities have recognized pedagogy as a science for more 
than half a century. In some of the universities, pedagogy 
is accepted as a branch which may be offered for a degree, 
coordinate with philosophy, psychology, science, or math- 



34 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

ematics. The same is practically true in France. Provi- 
sion for training in the science and art of teaching is being 
increasingly made in this country, while great numbers of 
young men and women are availing themselves of the oppor- 
tunities thus afforded. Teachers, like lawyers, doctors, 
and ministers, are banding themselves together for the 
purpose of protecting their interests, studying the principles 
underlying their profession, and advancing the cause to 
wliich they have devoted their lives. 

There seems to be good reason, therefore, to accept edu- 
cation as a science, and teaching as a profession. 



Summary 

There is a science of education because educational prin- 
ciples have been formulated and classified, an educational 
literature created, associations formed to further and protect 
the interests of teachers and to foster a scientific spirit, peda- 
gogical chairs established and maintained, and because it 
has received recognition in this and other countries. It is 
not a complete or exact science, and never can be, for it deals 
with the activities of the human mind. 



CHAPTER IV 

WHO CAN BE EDUCATED? 

References, — Btitler, Meaning of Education; McMurry, 
Method of the Recitation; Ward, Psychic Factors of Civilization; 
Rosenkranz, Philosophy of Education; De Gar mo, Interest and 
Education. 

If we accept the definition of education given by Rosen- 
kranz, namely, " Education is the influencing of man by 
man, and it has for its end to lead him to actualize liimself 
through liis own efforts," we have the answer to the ques- 
tion, "Who can be educated?" in the definition itself. 
The term " education," however, is often applied in a wider 
sense, as an educated horse, an educated dog, an edu- 
cated lion. It may be well to study the meaning of the 
words employed, and seek to arrive at an understanding 
of them. We speak of training and educating as though 
they were interchangeable terms. Such use of these words 
is unwarrantable. By training there is direction by some 
external agent, the being or thing trained is passive. Thus 
we speak of training a horse, a dog, a regiment, a vine. 
It is not that the object trained is necessarily destitute of 
intelligence; but it is led by the intelligence and volition of 
another to do tilings that it would not do of its own volition. 
The trained horse or the trick dog learns to perform feats 
that have been thought out by a superior intelligence and 
taught to him. He would never have learned these tricks 
of his own volition. Observe the most highly "educated" 
horse, study his tricks, and it will at once appear that he 

35 



36 ELEMENTARY EDUCATION 

performs only as he has been taught to perform, only as 
he has been trained. An external force, a man, has con- 
ceived the interesting feat and patiently trained him to per- 
form it. Had it not been for the man, the horse would never 
have performed the trick. 

Weal so employ the term "training" in connection with 
self-active beings, with man. Thus, the athlete who is to 
enter a contest, the pugilist who is to do battle, the foot- 
ball player — all these are placed in the hands of the 
trainer whose commands they must obey. They are in 
training, and while they are intelligent and must employ 
their intelligence, and possess the power of self-direction, 
during the time they are at work they must submit to the 
direction of an outside force, the trainer. We also have 
the training school, the training class, the training of sol- 
diers, the training of children. In every case there is an 
outside intelligence, superior in knowledge and capable of 
directing. The student in the training school is set to per- 
form certain tasks, such as, managing children, teach- 
ing a class, and the manifold duties of the teacher. He 
does this work under the eye and the direction of tlie 
critic teacher. He is being trained. Wherever the idea 
of training is correctly employed, there is an external force 
operating. 

But education is from within. If there is no self-acti\'ity, 
there is no learning. We criticise the grammatical accu- 
racy of the expression, "I shall learn you tliis fact;" there 
is also a sense in which the expression, "I shall teach you 
this fact," is incorrect. We can teach no one who will not 
be taught, as, from the very nature of the term education, 
activity from within is implied and required. Educere, the 



WHO CAN BE EDUCATED f 37 

Latin word from which we derive the word Education, 
means the act of leading forth. It begins within and pro- 
ceeds outward. A teacher may be employed, it is true, to 
arouse, direct, and lead, but, unless the activity of the child 
is stimulated, the work of the teacher is in vain, there is 
no educating. The horse can be trained under the lash 
to perform certain acts quite perfunctorily as a matter of 
habit, with little exercise of intelligence. So also man 
may be trained, as we have seen, to perform acts without 
it being necessary to give any thought to them. But the 
process of education requires conscious exercise of the in- 
telligence. If this is not brought about, all effort on the 
part of the teacher is fruitless. 

Let us proceed to the further consideration of the ques- 
tion. Who can be educated ? Do animals possess the same 
mental qualities as man, differing only in degree? If not, 
at what point is the dividing line? Beginning with the 
lowest form of intelligence and proceeding to the highest 
form, we will try to discover if any difference exists, and, 
if so, where it may be found. 

I. Instinct. — Comparing man with lower creatures we 
find that both possess instinct. The homing instinct, that 
of self-preservation, of care for offspring, of herding with 
those of their kind, are stronger in many animals than in 
man. Indeed, instinct often serves the animal in the 
accomplishment of ends that man reaches through higher 
intellectual power. On the whole, it will be found that 
instinct is stronger in the lower than in the higher creation ; 
hence this cannot be the dividing line between the two, else 
the animal must be accorded the higher place. 



38 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

2. Sense- perception. — Proceeding to the next higher 
form of intellectual activity, that of sense-perception, we 
find that animals possess keener senses than man. The 
hound follows the trail of the fox by means of a keen scent, 
and is not thrown oiT the track of his particular prey even 
though other animals may cross it ; the dog traces his master 
through the streets of a city, where thousands of other men 
have passed to and fro, with unerring certainty; the hawk 
poises a thousand feet above the earth and detects a snake 
or a mouse moving through the grass, and shoots down 
from the sky like an arrow upon his victim ; the horse travels 
with perfect security in the darkest night when his master 
is totally unable to see a thing; the cat has no trouble to 
find its way in the deepest gloom ; the watch-dog detects 
the slightest suspicious sound. Examples are abundant 
to show that each animal is endowed with such acuteness 
of sense as is necessary for its self-preservation, or for secur- 
ing the end for which its hfe was designed, and this acute- 
ness often far surpasses that of man in the same direction. 
Hence, if sense-perception were the dividing line, man 
would be placed below the brute creation. 

3. Imagination. — Next in the order marking intellec- 
tual advance is imagination. It is difficult to discover 
that animals possess imagination in any high form, as they 
cannot convey their thoughts through speech; but it is easy 
to discover that they possess memory, which is a form of 
imagination. Remarkable instances of memory on the 
part of animals are easily authenticated, having been wit- 
nessed by thoughtful observers. An elephant refuses to 
cross a bridge where perhaps, years before, it had been 
injured; a horse remembers a road over which it had passed 



WHO CAN BE EDUCATED? 39 

or a house at which it had stopped; a dog remembers a 
trick when called upon to perform it by the one who taught 
it to him even though years have intervened since it was 
last performed. Examples can be multiplied showing that 
some animals possess excellent memories. In this form of 
imagination, that of memory, it is certain that in many 
cases the animal equals if not surpasses man. Memory 
cannot be the dividing line. 

4. Reason. — When we come to reason, we may well 
hesitate to ask the question. Do animals reason ? Many 
psychologists confidently affirm that they do not, while 
others assert that they do. Before we can intelligently 
discuss this question, it will be necessary to define what we 
mean by reason. Ward says that reason is the "faculty 
by which the mind reaches conclusions."^ We understand 
reason to be the power of reaching conclusions from certain 
premises or propositions, expressed or understood, the 
ability to proceed from cause to effect. That animals pos- 
sess this power in a hmited sense, abundant and reliable 
instances on record would seem to prove. Ward^ relates 
many incidents in which animals show the power to proceed 
from cause to effect. The following is a most striking ex- 
ample: "In the summer of 1875, while making botanical 
collections in Rabbit Valley on Fremont River, Utah, the 
camp was several times invaded by coyotes during the 
absence of myself and my assistant, and these animals would 
howl around us nights, sometimes approaching quite 
closely. I finally set my fowhng piece, both barrels loaded 
with buckshot, in a gulch among the sagebrush a hundred 

' "Psychic Factors of Civilization," p. 28. 
^ Ibid., p. 152. 



40 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

yards from the tent, attaching a piece of fresh meat to a 
string twenty yards long, which at the opposite end passed 
round the stem of a bush and was tied to both triggers. 
The least jerk on the string would fire off the gun, which 
was carefully aimed in the direction of, and a little over, 
the meat. The next morning tracks were seen all about 
the place, but meat, string, and gun were untouched. The 
second morning I found the meat gone and the string bitten 
off. The meat had been dragged six inches toward the 
gun, as shown by the mark it made in the loose alkaline 
soil, and the string was slack. The gun had not been dis- 
charged. I renewed the meat and reset the gun, and the 
third night I heard the report of the gun in the night. It 
was moonlight and I went to the spot as quickly as possible, 
but as no dead wolves were to be found I left matters till 
morning, when I found that the operation of the previous 
night had been repeated, but that by some accident the 
string had been pulled and the gun discharged, probably 
without injury to the animal, as the string now lay out of 
range. I continued for several nights to repeat the experi- 
ment with somewhat varying results, but did not succeed 
in killing any wolves. The tracks showed that on the first 
night they had traversed the length of the string and around 
the gun, evidently exploring the situation thoroughly and 
acting upon the knowledge they possessed." 

"Has the lower animal the power of reasoning?" asks 
the Rev. Charles J. Adams. He answers his question as 
follows: "I claim that I have discovered four phases of 
reason. These are, that of appreciation, that of adapta- 
tion, that of imitation, and that of origination." The 
following incidents are related to prove his claim: "A 



WHO CAN BE EDUCATED? 41 

young lady, with some friends, was in an orchard. In a 
field adjoining, two of her brothers were at work. In an 
adjoining pasture were two young horses. To the bars 
which connected the field in which the young men were 
working with the pasture, one of these horses came run- 
ning and whinneying. One of the young men, who did 
not think that intelligence stopped short off at man, walked 
toward him. Then the horse started off, looking back 
over his shoulder as if he expected the young man to follow. 
The horse was not disappointed, and the young man found 
the horse's mate on his back in a ditch unable to get up. 

"Here is a clear case of appreciative reason. The horse 
could not save his companion, knew that a man could 
do so, and did the sensible thing by going off to get a 
man. 

"The appreciation of the output of any faculty by an- 
other is evidence that the one appreciating has the same 
faculty. The musician appreciates those who have the 
musical faculty. To go no further for illustration, did 
not the fact that the horse knew that a man could act 
rationally, prove that the horse is endowed with reason?" 

Mr. Adams also tells a story of a monkey that had a 
grudge against a coachman, and took the following means 
to vent his spite : he found his way through an open window 
into the man's room over the stable, saturated his bed with 
kerosene, which he obtained by unscrewing the top of the 
lamp, struck a match and set fire to the bed. " But admit," 
says Mr. Adams, "that the monkey was only imitatively 
rational in striking the match, was there not something of 
origination in his unscrewing the top from the lamp and 
pouring its contents on the bed?" These instances seem 



42 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

to prove that animals possess the power of appreciation, 
adaptation, imitation, and origination. 

A personal experience with a dog shows the power of 
appreciative reason, that of recognizing powers in man to 
assist where his power had reached its limitation. It was 
upon a farm in New York state where woodchucks abound. 
The dog was a great hunter, and there was scarcely a day 
during the summer season that he failed to run a wood- 
chuck into a stone fence, when he would call for help by 
loud barking. He came in one day, wet, dirty, and tired. 
I said to him in ordinary tone of voice, "Sport, have you 
found another woodchuck?" The dog showed every 
demonstration of joy, springing up to me, running off in the 
direction of his game, returning, then starting off again, 
plainly begging me to go with him. I got my hat and fol- 
lowed him. As soon as he was sure that I was coming, he 
left me to follow a necessarily circuitous route while he 
took a short cut, arriving some time before I did. He 
stood on top of the stone wall and by his barking directed 
me to his quarry. Now here is a case of appreciative 
reasoning. Not being able to secure his game without 
assistance, he called upon one that he knew could render 
aid. 

It would seem, then, that reasoning is not the dividing 
line, though no one would assert that the power of reason- 
ing on the part of animals equals that of man. The ani- 
mal always reasons in connection with the concrete, and, 
at best, his reasoning is elementary. 

5. The Power of Abstraction. — The highest form of 
intelligence is the power of abstraction, the ability to form 
generalizations. Do animals possess tliis power? Let us 



WHO CAN BE EDUCATED? 43 

first define what we mean by abstraction. It is the with- 
drawal from the concrete, the notion obtained which ex- 
ists independent of any particular object. Thus beauty, 
shape, color, weight, attraction, virtue, honesty, righteous- 
ness, etc., are abstract ideas. , Though they are applied to 
objects, they represent notions independent of them.^ Prin- 
ciples, axioms, rules, laws, although they may be evolved 
by means of many examples, state a general or abstract 
truth. It is not conceivable that an animal can compre- 
hend an abstract truth. Whatever be its power of intel- 
ligence, it is always associated with something concrete. 

Here, then, we have a clear distinction which marks 
the difference between man and the brute creation. Man 
alone has reached the power of abstract thinking, and be- 
cause of this he alone can be educated. Indeed, the goal 
of instruction is to reach the abstract, as McMurry shows.^ 

Quoting from Bulwer-Lytton on this point,^ "The more 
I look through nature the more I find that on all varieties 
of organized life is carefully bestowed the capacity to re- 
ceive the impressions, be they called perceptions or ideas, 
which are adapted to the uses each creature is intended to 
derive from them. I find, then, that man alone is endowed 
with the capacity to receive the ideas of God, of soul, of 
worship, of a hereafter. I see no trace of such a capacity 
in the inferior races; nor, however their intelligence may be 
refined by culture, is such capacity ever apparent in them." 

Further he adds: 

*' ' Man alone,' says Miiller, ' can conceive abstract notions;' 
and it is in abstract notions, such as time, space, matter, 

^ See McMurry's "Method of the Recitation," for a discussion of in- 
dividual and general notions. 

' Ibid., p. 51. ' "A Strange Story," p. 345. 



44 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

spirit, light, form, quantity, essence, that man grounds, 
not only all liis philosophy, all science, but all that prac- 
tically improves one generation for the benefit of the next. 
And why? Because all these abstract notions uncon- 
sciously lead the mind away from the material into the 
immaterial, from the present into the future." 

The child begins to learn to count with objects, but the 
lesson is not learned until he can add, subtract, multiply, 
etc., without any objects at hand, until he possesses the 
abstract notion. It may seem that as man and the animal 
run parallel in their manifestations of intelligence as we 
have traced, the difference between them is but slight. 
But the power of abstraction, which man possesses and 
which the animal totally lacks, marks a mighty chasm 
which can never be bridged. The intellectual distance 
between the lowest type of man and the highest type of 
animal has not been lessened during the ages and never 
can be lessened, for man's progress is due to his power of 
abstract reasoning, a power which no animal possesses in 
any degree whatever. Man has progressed of his own 
impulse and volition. Horses can run a mile in two min- 
utes, not because they have set this goal for themselves, 
but because man set that goal, and through breeding, train- 
ing, and improved facilities he has brought the horse to the 
desired speed. Dogs have reached wonderful perfection 
and beauty, and have learned to perform remarkable tricks, 
not of their own volition but because another and higher 
intelligence has taken them in hand and by long-continued 
and painstaking efforts has secured the end sought. The dog 
is more intelligent in some respects and less intelligent in 
others than he was in his wild state a thousand years ago 



WHO CAN BE EDUCATED? 45 

before he was domesticated by man. Not an animal is 
one whit better or more intelHgent than were his ancestors 
thousands of years ago because he planned to better his 
species or reach higher aims. Every particle of improve- 
ment in him is due to the fact of his contact with man, who, 
with the power of abstract reasoning, saw possibilities in 
him and patiently proceeded to realize those possibilities. 
It is inconceivable that it should be otherwise. The animal 
can be trained, but man alone can be educated. 

I have traced this parallel thus carefully for another 
reason, which will be apparent; that is, to emphasize the 
thought that as abstraction is characteristic of human 
intelligence alone, it therefore marks a definite aim in the 
education of man. The teacher, while proceeding from 
the concrete, must not stop until the abstract has been 
reached. Knowledge must be pursued until it is fully 
incorporated in the mind of the child as general notions. 

If the preceding reasoning is correct, the theory which 
makes man descendant of lower animals must of neces- 
sity fall to the ground, for the distance between man and 
the creature representing the highest evolutional develop- 
ment from an intellectual standpoint is as great as it ever 
was, and that distance is immeasurable and infinite. Evo- 
lution from a physical standpoint may be capable of proof; 
but from an intellectual standpoint — that wliich distin- 
guishes man — the ages have marked no progress in the 
lower animals/ 

Louis Agassiz, in his "Essay on Classification," says, 
"All the facts proclaim aloud the one God whom man 
may know, adore, and love, and natural history must in 
good time become the analysis of the thoughts of the 



46 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

Creator of the universe." A- writer who knew Agassiz well, 
comments upon him as follows: "Every living thing repre- 
sented not so much animated matter, but a thought of the 
Creator, and the group to which it belonged, this thought 
working itself out through the centuries. For he believed 
in an evolution. But the evolution of Darwin did not 
exist for liim. He did not believe in an evolution by trans- 
mutation. His was an evolution, not by organic forces 
within, but according to a great intelligent plan without. 
Not by a change of one species into another, but by the 
substitution of one for another, according to tliis great 
plan. His devout reverence for the things of nature made 
itself manifest in his work. He said, 'I never make prep- 
arations for penetrating into some small province hitherto 
undiscovered, without breatliing a prayer to the Being who 
hides his secrets from me.' For him the laboratory was a 
sanctuary, the study of the things of nature, intercourse 
with the Creator." 

Dr. Alfred Russel Wallace, who discovered the theory of 
evolution independently of and simultaneously with Darwin, 
differed from the latter as to the origin of man from an 
intellectual and moral standpoint. He says, " The belief 
and teaching of Darwin was that man's whole nature — 
physical, mental, intellectual and moral — was developed 
from the lower animals by means of the same laws of varia- 
tion and survival; and, as a consequence of this belief, that 
there was no difference in kind between man's nature and 
animal nature, but only one of degree. jNIy view, on the 
other hand, was, and is, that there is a difference in kind, 
intellectually and morally, between man and other animals; 
and that while his body was undoubtedly developed by con- 



WHO CAN BE EDUCATED? 47 

tinuous modification of some ancestral animal form, some 
different agency, analogous to that which first produced 
organic life and then originated consciousness, came into 
play in order to develop the higher intellectual and spiritual 
nature of man." 

We are now ready to answer the question, Who can be 
educated? Man alone can be educated, for he alone is 
self-active, self-conscious, self-directing, responsible for his 
acts; he alone possesses the power of generalization, the 
power of abstraction. The answer suggests very important 
problems inherent in the nature of education. In the 
light of this answer the aphorism, "From the concrete to 
the abstract," wliich is the law of educational procedure, 
takes a broad meaning. It is certain that with the child 
we must begin with the concrete, but too often our work 
ceases before the abstract conception is reached. In so 
far as tliis is true, the educational end has not been attained. 
A good illustration of this is found in the practice of chil- 
dren to continue to count with their fingers. The trouble 
is, they have not yet reached the abstract conception. No 
child will use objects in counting if he can get along with- 
out them. The child avails himself of "short-cuts" as 
truly as the adult. What the teacher should do is not to 
forbid the child to employ objects, but to give him, through 
drill and many repetitions, such a thorough knowledge of 
the numbers he employs that he no longer thinks of objects, 
or needs them, but knows the number in the abstract. 
Not until this end is reached can the instruction in any 
field be called completed. When to employ the concrete 
and when to employ the abstract is a question that will 
receive attention in later pages. 



48 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

Summary 

Man alone is self-active, self-directive, and self-conscious, 
possessing the ability to actualize himself through his own 
efforts. He has the -power of abstraction, and this places 
him far above animal creations. It marks a gulf that is 
inconceivable for them to pass. Because of this power pos- 
sessed alone by man, he alone can be educated. 



CHAPTER V 

ELECTIVE STUDIES 

References. — Eliot, Educational Reforms; Payne, Education 
of Teachers; Bain, Education as a Science; De Garmo, Interest 
and Education; FouilUe, Education from a National Standpoint; 
Report of the Committee of Fifteen; Shaw, A new Course of Study. 

The Election of Studies. — The question of the course of 
study and the choice of subjects to be pursued has met 
with wide discussion in recent years, presenting all points 
of view from extreme individualism, which would allow the 
child upon entering school to choose what he likes best and 
pursue that, to the rigid curriculum of the old-fashioned col- 
lege. In most institutions of higher learning there is an 
increasing tendency to enlarge the list of elective studies, 
until in many universities practically all of the work is thrown 
open to the free election of the student. The course of 
study has undergone many modifications to meet new 
demands, to support and further new discoveries, and to 
keep pace with the progress of civilization. College fac- 
ulties, superintendents and teachers everywhere are ear- 
nestly seeking to offer the best that mature learning and 
experience can suggest for the advancement of those whose 
lives they are shaping. It would be folly to discard the 
results of such long-continued and conscientious study. 
One of the most suggestive evidences of educational prog- 
ress is found in the enriched, systematized, well-balanced, 
carefully worked out courses of study. They are not want- 
ing in fundamental elements, they furnish a working basis 
of study, they suggest a point from which to start, and, 

49 



50 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

therefore, must be a far safer guide to the young person 
than his own inchnation, or even his owti judgment. 

Election in the Elementary School. — Having estab- 
lished the character, value, and necessity of the course of 
study, we may proceed to ask how far it should control 
in shaping the work of the student, how much choice should 
he have in the subjects he takes? Beginning with the 
elementary school, no elective should be possible for two 
general reasons — (i) it is the period in which an all- 
round development is to be gained, the period for obtain- 
ing a general culture; (2) it is the time when character is 
being formed. Discussing these points separately the 
child is incapable of selecting the subjects that will furnish 
him complete development. We have seen that the effort 
to outline in courses of study the material that will produce 
such culture has cost the best thought and study of educa- 
tors for many generations, and yet without wholly satis- 
factory results. It cannot be expected that an immature 
child will be able to select the proper material for his cul- 
ture. Again, he is apt to be influenced in liis choice by 
superficial causes, such as the popularity of a teacher, 
the subjects that are easy for him, hkes or dislikes, etc. 
Miinsterberg has shown that it does not follow that a 
child's seeming aptitudes are always permanent, that they 
foreshadow what his life work will be. Hence, his course 
must be chosen for him and he must be held to it whether 
or not he likes it until a foundation of general culture has 
been established. It by no means follows that one should 
not be required to do things he does not like to do. Tasks 

* See Chap. XVI for treatment of the Course of Study. 



ELECTIVE STUDIES 51 

must be performed in school however distasteful they may- 
be, and this is one of the best means of training for duty, 
and preparing to meet life's difficulties. 

The Period of Character-Forming. — In the next place, 
and perhaps of even more importance than the incapacity 
of the child to select his course, it is not to be forgotten that 
this is the formative period, the time when character is 
being formed and established. If this is the chief end of 
education, great weight must be attached to the effect of 
any policy on character-forming. The grade teacher, who 
has charge of the class for the full day for an entire year 
or longer, must certainly come into much closer touch with 
children than the specialist, who meets them for a single 
period a day and then has no further responsibility. The 
former thinks of the whole child, his needs, his aptitudes, 
his weaknesses, his discipline, the formation of liis habits, 
his growth into a perfect well-balanced manhood. The 
latter very naturally devotes himself to his subject and 
the problem of furthering the class in that work. From 
the very nature of things, the motive of the specialist is the 
advancement of his pupils in his special work, regardless 
of the other work that the child may be pursuing. He is 
responsible for that work alone, and his success as a teacher 
is measured by the progress of the pupils therein. Hence, 
it often occurs that the enthusiast in some specialty may 
overwork his class to the detriment of other studies and 
at the expense of general development. 

The grade teacher, on the other hand, carries the work 
along evenly, lightening tasks in one subject when some 
other subject demands more attention, spurring up pupils 



52 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

that are dull, while checking any that are prematurely 
bright, having patience with those that are slow to 
comprehend, and thereby securing well-balanced work. 
Surely no teacher of a single subject, meeting a class but 
once a day, can obtain so thorough acquaintance with the 
capacities or the characteristics of a class as the grade 
teacher. It will readily be admitted that the specialist 
knows his subject better and may be able to present it 
better than the grade teacher who must teach several sub- 
jects. But for young children this is not so important 
as the well-ordered, coordinated, and harmonious presenta- 
tion of all the work. In the work, as wxll as in the disci- 
pline, the teacher is to form right habits. With older 
children, when the habits are established, the emphasis 
may be laid upon the character of the work. 

The main thing with young children is the strong person- 
ality of the teacher, and this evinces itself far better in the 
teacher who has the class the whole day in all of its sub- 
jects, and who disciplines the children, not merely to main- 
tain order during the period of instruction, but to estabhsh 
those habits and to secure that general power of self- 
control which form good character. The grade teacher 
is able to understand the child in all his needs. This far 
overbalances any peculiar power that the specialist may 
possess in the presentation of subject-matter. Nor is 
it too much to expect of the grade teacher k\ elementary 
work that he shall be master of all the subjects he is caHpd 
upon to teach. 

It is of highest importance that the teacher of young 
children should come into closest touch with them, not 
only in their studies, but also in their play, and also in all 



ELECTIVE STUDIES 53 

matters that enlist their interests. This can be done only 
when the teacher is their constant companion, guide, and 
friend. Thus can the evil influences growing out of the 
outside environment of many children be counteracted and 
overcome. The specialist, who meets a different class 
each period of the day, teaching perhaps a total of two or 
three hundred children, can know but little about the indi- 
vidual. He will do well if he learns the name of each, to 
say nothing of individual characteristics. His discipline 
necessarily has for its purpose the maintenance of order 
during the lesson, and if that is attained no further respon- 
sibility in this respect is laid upon him. But discipline must 
have a much liigher ultimate aim than this. It must inculcate 
the power of self-control; it must teach self-respect as well as 
respect for the rights of others; it must lead to good habits; 
it must form character. The teacher who is the companion 
of the pupils during the whole day will be able to encour- 
age when a word of encouragement is needed, reprove when 
reproof is necessary, assist when the critical moment for 
assistance has come, spur up the lazy, and restrain the 
overzealous, and by word and deed and by kindly interest 
further every honest effort and check every evil tendency. 
He will also carry his study of the individual child to his 
home, when peculiar circumstances require, and he will 
seek to know and counteract the influences that hinder or 
debase. These things are impossible to the specialist be- 
cause of the numbers involved and because his interest is 
in his subject rather than in the individual child. 

To summarize, the grade teacher's interest lies in the 
child, his growth, his general advancement, and his perfect 
development in all directions, while the specialist's interest 



54 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

lies in the accomplishment of certain ends in the mastery 
of subject-matter. 

Instead of dividing the lessons of the day among a num- 
ber of teachers, there is a tendency in some schools to con- 
tinue a teacher with a class for three to four years, the 
teacher moving up with the class. Such practice is excel- 
lent for both pupils and teachers, — for pupils, because 
definite and permanent impressions may thereby be made 
by a strong, intelligent, and zealous teacher ; for teachers, 
because broader \aews of education and of life are 
attained than is possible when the same grade of work is 
pursued year after year. The tendency of teaching is to 
narrow one's life, because the teacher is constantly appeal- 
ing to persons inferior in knowledge and experience, and 
that effect is intensified when one continues in the same 
grade year after year. To carry a class through three 
years thus takes the teacher into new fields, but does not 
take him far away from the particular work wherein lie 
his aptitude and his strength. After completing the three 
or four years with a class the teacher starts at the begin- 
ning with a new class. The impression that an efficient 
teacher might make upon a class in three years would be 
lasting, affecting in all probability their whole lives. The 
wonderful impression that Thomas Arnold, Mary Lyon, 
or Mark Hopkins made upon students did not come 
from the recitation alone, but from the personal contact 
of strong lives for a period of years. And this is the chief 
reason for the eminent success of many private schools — 
the personal, daily, continued intercourse of teachers and 
pupils. But what if the teacher is incompetent or unsuited 
to inspire the highest intellectual and moral endeavor? 



ELECTIVE STUDIES 55 

For such there is no law. No system of pedagogy can 
provide a place for them or contemplate their presence in 
the school. They have no place there. 

In the High School. — The reasons for non-election of 
studies and against the employment of specialists in the 
elementary school have less weight in the high school. The 
pupils are well established in character, they are experi- 
enced enough to have some voice in the choice of their 
work. The subjects, too, are so much broader that it could 
hardly be expected that a teacher should become expert in 
the several themes involved in a daily program. Chief 
attention may now be given to the presenting of subject- 
matter, whereas, it has been urged that in the earlier course 
the child must be the central thought. The high school 
student is mature enough to be largely self-directive, he 
is more capable of judging what he needs. Hence the 
thought of the teacher may be devoted to the presentation 
of his material. It is of utmost importance that the high 
school teacher should possess greater knowledge and 
breadth in his particular field than would be possible if 
he were required to teach many subjects. The literature 
of each field grows wider and the demands are more exact- 
ing, the more advanced the subject becomes. For this 
reason it is well recognized that in the college and the uni- 
versity the teachers must be specialists. 

Whether or not the pupils in the high school should be 
allowed to choose their subjects, even though they are 
taught by specialists, is another question. The New Jersey 
Council of Education, after extended discussion, expressed 
itself as follows upon this point: "Resolved, That in the 



56 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

opinion of the Council the miscellaneous election of studies 
in the high school is not desirable, but that the best results 
are to be obtained by a judicious study of the aptitudes of 
pupils, and such selection of courses as seem to be in ac- 
cordance with such aptitudes. This should also involve 
consultations with parents and former teachers." Every 
well-organized high school wdll have at least two general 
purposes, namely, to prepare students for college, and 
those who cannot go to college for life. To limit its 
work to the first purpose is to give over an institution sup- 
ported by public taxation to the service of the comparative 
few of its supporters and constituents. The high school 
must fit for college in order to gain a standing among insti- 
tutions of learning, as well as for the direct purpose of meet- 
ing the needs of even a minority, but it must also be a 
"people's college" for those whose schooling can extend 
no further and who must be equipped for life. It may be 
difficult to outline just what the material should be to meet 
this second demand. There are some things in the spe- 
cific requirements of college entrance that are not needed 
in the preparation for the future. The college course is or- 
ganized with the idea of preparing for broad culture and pos- 
sibly for a professional career. The college, therefore, must 
require certain specific preparation to enable the student 
to enter upon and successfully carry out the work thus 
planned. It is definitely understood that the college is 
another step in the completion of the young man's educa- 
tion. But the high school must have some courses that 
are complete, that do not contemplate later courses. 

Every well-equipped high school will have at least four 
courses — a classical course, a scientific course, an English 



ELECTIVE STUDIES 57 

course, and a commercial course. These courses should 
be so arranged as to require practically the same work for 
the first two years, the principal differentiations taking place 
during the last two years, especially in small schools where 
there is limited teaching force and where economy must 
be practiced. Tliis would necessitate all courses embrac- 
ing at least Latin, one or more modern languages, higher 
mathematics, some science, literature, and history — the 
essential subjects both for college preparation and for life. 
None of these should be omitted from the education of any 
person, even though he devotes himself to business. The 
child should be allowed to choose his course upon entering 
the high school, his parents and former teachers being 
called into consultation. But the final decision need not 
be made until the end of the second year, provided the 
courses are planned as above outlined. He is far more 
competent to make this final decision at the end of the 
second high school year than he was when he left the gram- 
mar school, a mere child. He is less likely to be influenced 
by such matters as the reputation of instructors, the deci- 
sion of other children, or the imagined easiest course. He 
is initiated into the life of the high school, begins to under- 
stand his own needs and capabilities, hears more about 
going to college, is clearer as to the occupation he may 
follow, and is better prepared to decide. For these 
reasons no mistake should be made in the work out- 
lined for him during the first two years, that will exclude 
him from the choice of a course best suited to his needs. 
It would seem clear that the high school student should 
be allowed no choice other than as to the course he will 
pursue, at least for the first two years. If, then, he is fully 



58 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

decided as to his future purpose he may settle upon his 
course, and that, in the main, should be followed as pre- 
scribed. We have already seen that the course of study 
is the result of centuries of consideration and experiment by 
wise men. This cannot be ignored and must count for more 
than the whim and inexperience of a cliild. Only in excep- 
tional cases should election be allowed in the liigh school. 
These exceptions would involve those that are preparing 
for some later special course or those to whom the high 
school is the end of their schooling. 

In the Higher Institutions. — In the college and univer- 
sity the usual plan is to allow but little choice in the fresh- 
man year, a larger choice in each of the succeeding years, 
until the senior year when the work is nearly all elective. 
The question of electives in college is still in the experi- 
mental stage, the authorities themselves not being agreed 
as to what is wisest. Conservative opinion favors, inas- 
much as the young man entering college is introduced to 
a new environment, that his work be marked out for the 
first year until "he finds himself." After that he may 
have a voice in shaping his subjects of study with refer- 
ence to his proposed life work. In purely university work 
the young man has sufficient maturity and knowledge to 
enable him to know exactly what he wants and to choose 
wisely. Therefore, the work may all be elective. 

When the foundation of general culture has been laid, 
the specialist will never become narrow. He will \'iew 
civilization with a large vision, and while he concentrates 
his time and his efforts in furthering the special work to 
which he has devoted himself, he will also find time and 



ELECTIVE STUDIES 59 

inclination to be interested in many other fields of activity 
and thought. He will be the better specialist because of 
the larger view that broad culture engenders, and at the 
same time, he will take his place among men, entering into 
their thoughts and lives, and thus find a place of eminent 
usefulness and service. 



Summary 

I. Ths course of study in the elementary school should 
embrace each of the fields of human knowledge properly har- 
monized and correlated until general culture has been se- 
cured. It should take into account the physical and intel- 
lectual growth of the child. It should seek to meet the aim 
for the school for which it is intended. 

II. The election of studies should be allowed only in 
advanced courses after general culture has been attained. 
Specialization should be practiced only in the higher schools, 
after the child's character is established. The influence of 
the grade teacher is the most potent force in the formation 
of the character of young children. 



CHAPTER VI 

THE GAINING OF KNOWLEDGE 

References. — Rooper, A Pot of Green Feathers; Lange, Apper- 
ception; McMurry, General Method; Bain, Education as a Science; 
Johonnot, Theory and Practice; Rosmini, Method in Education. 

The little child is born into the world an utter stranger. 
He possesses nothing but the capacity to be educated, the 
possibility of knowing. Without this he cannot be educated. 
He has five avenues through which he becomes acquainted 
with the outer world — seeing, hearing, touching, tast- 
ing, and smelling. He does not know how to use a single 
one of these possessions, he must learn to see, hear, feel, 
taste, and smell. The whole process of education consists 
in making the strange, the unknown, familiar and known. 
All that is possible in human knowledge lies between the 
condition of a new born babe and a Solomon or an Aristotle. 
The child masters, step by step, the great mysteries of the 
world until what was at first inexplicable becomes a 
matter of familiar knowledge. 

The Senses as Means of Gaining Knowledge. — Through 
the eye he learns to measure distance, to determine shape, 
to distinguish color and form, to recognize symbols, to 
appreciate the external beauties of the world. Through 
special training he may be able to note great distances, as 
the sailor at sea or the herdsman on the prairie, on the one 
hand, or the minutest details, as the jeweler or the micro- 
scopist, or the trapper in the forest, on the other hand. 

60 



THE GAINING OF KNOWLEDGE 6l 

Through the ear he learns first to distinguish his mother's 
voice, and later through patient training he may become 
able to detect the finest differences in notes of music, and 
to appreciate the most delicate and exquisite melodies. 
If he devotes himself to it, his ear may become so acute as 
to be able to distinguish and interpret sounds in the wilder- 
ness or in the night-time that to the untrained ear would 
be meaningless, or even unheard. The words of an un- 
known tongue at first sound like a strange jargon; but 
soon the ear becomes accustomed to them, the sounds are 
separated into words, and intelligent comprehension fol- 
lows. 

By means of the taste he becomes acquainted with the 
nutriments that sustain the body and afford pleasure, as well 
as with those that are dangerous and unwholesome. Very 
much of the pleasure of Hfe depends upon the taste. That 
the taste is capable of training is manifest. Every person 
has experiences in learning to like certain foods and liquids. 
A person who had been obliged to take quinine for malaria 
came to like it as a child likes candy^ Few people are fond 
of olives when they first taste them, and the use of tobacco 
has to be cultivated. Some peoples, long habituated to 
certain kinds of food, eat them with relish, whereas the 
stranger visiting them temporarily, regards such food with 
disrelish, if not disgust. Keenness of taste may be devel- 
oped, as in case of the tea-merchant, the wine-tester, or the 
butter- buyer. 

The smell, though not of so great importance as the 
other senses in unfolding a knowledge of the world about 
us, is nevertheless a means of obtaining knowledge that 
can be obtained in no other way. The scent of musk, the 



62 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

odor of cooked foods, the delicious perfume of flowers, can 
never be known except through the smell. Professor Cook 
says:^ "Smell has importance even as related to cookery, 
what we call tasting things being for the most part smelling 
them. For example, if a blind man were to hold his nose 
he could not, from the taste alone, tell whether he were 
eating beef, mutton, or pork. A man blindfolded and his 
nose held cannot tell, by tasting them, a slice of onion from 
a slice of apple as one after the other is laid on his tongue. 
At the table it is not the flavors of the things that delight 
us, but the smell, for, as we have said, we taste nothing but 
sour and salt, bitter and sweet. 

"Not only the food itself, but the accompaniments of 
the feast, were made to minister to smell by the ancients. 
Athenaeus relates that, at the banquet he has described, 
the dishes had been made by baking perfumed clay with 
aromatic woods as fuel. Other cases of the ornamental 
uses of odors were found in the Roman theaters, the air 
of which was perfumed. Incense in houses of worship 
was another instance." 

Smell plays a far more important part in the enjoy- 
ments of life than we ordinarily think. It is therefore a 
valuable means of knowledge. Professor Cook further says, 
"It is a mistake to suppose that men even are not assisted 
by smell. A certain blind man, we are told, could by 
smell alone tell if cats were in the house, notwithstanding 
the fact that several doors intervened between him and 
them. A blind man, named Mitchell, knew by smell, 
whether, for example, one was a rogue, a miser, or what 
not. But why do we speak of this when there is a Jaeger ? 

* "Psychology," p. lo. 



THE GAINING OF KNOWLEDGE 63 

This eminent man, a designer of woolen clothes, claims to 
have proved that every nation, kindred, tribe, family, and 
individual may be known by the smell, and thinks that 
even the secret of heredity can be gotten at by it." 

Through the sense of touch a vast field of knowledge is 
obtained that can be reached in no other way. Pain, heat, 
gravity, and resistance are comprehended by touch. Helen 
Keller is a noted example of the wide range of knowledge 
that can be gained through this means alone. Not only 
has this remarkable woman acquired a store of knowledge 
equal to most women of her age, but by indomitable per- 
severance, added to an unusual capacity, she completed 
a thorough college course at the age of twenty- four, although 
totally deprived of sight and hearing. She was obliged to 
depend solely upon the sense of touch as a means of gaining 
the knowledge necessary to entitle her to a degree, and 
in spite of the terrible handicap, she bravely surmounted 
all obstacles and completed her course with credit. This 
case illustrates that a large amount of knowledge can be 
obtained in spite of great obstacles. It shows how much 
can be gained through the sense of touch alone. 

Many things that can be learned only by means of the eye 
and ear will forever remain incomprehensible to her. The 
beauties of color and harmonies of music are wholly out- 
side of the possibility of her comprehension. Helen 
Keller's case illustrates that where one or more senses 
are lacking, the remaining ones become the more keen. 
The blind become acute in hearing and touch, and the mute 
very observing with the eye. Deprived of seeing, the blind 
learn to take care of themselves through the greater acute- 
ness of the other senses. When they come to a street- 



64 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

crossing they feel the movement of the air from the cross- 
street even though no v^ind be blowing. A blind man tells 
me that he knows when he is passing a tree or a post by 
the subtle current of air that he perceives. A deaf senator 
was able to comprehend the work of his legislative body 
and fully hold his own with his colleagues in point of use- 
fulness, because of his watchfulness and because he kept 
his eyes open. 

The idea of resistance can be obtained only through the 
touch. Is an object soft or hard, heavy or light, touch 
alone can give information of that fact. The most vivid 
description of the pain of a burn can never give the faintest 
idea of it. An instant's touch of the heated surface conveys 
the knowledge at once and emphatically. 

The object of the foregoing discussion is to show that 
through the senses the estrangement is removed, the knowl- 
edge gained. The more knowledge possessed, the easier 
the acquirement of further knowledge becomes. And so 
the child, starting with nothing, gradually and rapidly gains 
a store of knowledge and adds to it as long as life and 
intelligence last. There is no limit to his possibilities 
except in his own capacity. The whole world is before him, 
and it is his privilege to go forth and overcome it. The 
gaining of such mastery is education, and it is the duty of 
the teacher to bring to the child the right material, at the 
right time, in the right way. 

Choice of Material. — Great care must be exercised in 
the gaining of knowledge as to choice of material. New 
ideas are gained with difficulty when they are utterly strange, 
and with comparative ease when the mind is already in 



THE GAINING OF KNOWLEDGE 6$ 

possession of related ideas. A few illustrations will illumi- 
nate the point. A troop of American Indians connected 
with a show, wandered through the streets of Paris with 
stoic indifference to the artistically decorated shop win- 
dows, the works of art, the fine buildings, the monuments — 
the wonders of that beautiful city. These works of civil- 
ization and aesthetic taste are far beyond their compre- 
hension, so far that they fail to make an impression. A 
brilliantly colored blanket appeals to them more than the 
noblest Duchesse lace, a rude household implement more 
than a Glacen6 vase, a string of gaudy beads more than a 
resplendent jewel. Where a civilized person would view 
with delight the marvels of taste and beauty, the savage 
passes on utterly oblivious. The works of art, the exquisite 
beauty of architecture, the wonderful fountains, the mar- 
velous exhibitions of the highest art of man that make the 
French capital so attractive, are entirely beyond the Indian's 
comprehension. He must pass through some centuries of 
civilization before he is able to grasp the meaning of these 
things and appreciate them. 

A few years ago at considerable expense, the United 
States government brought several hundred teachers from 
Cuba to one of our great universities, provided lecturers 
and gave them instructions in the art of teaching. 
Those most intimately acquainted with the enterprise, 
express the belief, that so far as the definite purpose 
was concerned, these young people were but little 
benefited. They were not ready for so much that was new 
and strange, however elementary the pedagogical material 
presented; it was beyond them. Doubtless the enterprise 
was well worth the expense, for these earnest young persons 



66 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGV 

necessarily picked up a great deal of valuable information 
as to the customs of the land; but from a professional 
standpoint, they learned very little of the science and art 
of teaching. Even in this respect, they learned far less 
than would have been possible had they been well prepared 
to receive the new ideas. 

Goethe llescribed his own life and characteristics in 
these words: 

** Vom Vater hab'ich die Statur, 
Des Lebens ernstes Fiihren 
Vom Miitterchen die froh Natur, 
Die Lust zu Fabuliren." 

To one unfamiliar with the German language, at first sight 
there is nothing in this stanza that conveys intelligence. But 
upon a closer examination of the lines, light gradually begins 
to break in. For example, take the first line, the words 
"Vater," "hab'," and "Statur," will not be difficult to 
translate because of their similarity with the English words, 
"father," "have," and "stature." It will now be easy to 
translate the line as follows: "From my father I have my 
stature," or freer, "I am like my father in stature," or "I 
inherit my stature from my father." The second line is 
more difficult because it lacks words that furnish a hint to 
the English student, the only word being "ernstes," earnest. 
But the clue is given in the first line, which speaks of 
qualities inherited from the father, and it would not there- 
fore be difficult to conclude that the second line continues 
to speak of these qualities, and alludes to the earnest or 
serious side of the poet's character, also inherited from the 
paternal side. We have, then, "Life's earnest strivings," 



THE GAINING OF KNOWLEDGE 67 

or, ''The tendency to take life seriously," — a tendency 
that was not very prominent in Goethe's character. 

In the third line again we have "Miitterchen" and 
''Natur, " which are easily comprehended as "Mother," 
and "Nature." It is hardly expected that the casual 
reader will understand the sweet endearment compassed 
in the diminutive form of "Mutter," rendered "Miitter- 
chen, " which touches the German heart with so much 
tenderness and love, and which, of course, every child 
understands. The word "mother" will have to suffice in 
Enghsh. Now a knowledge of Goethe's character will aid 
in understanding that from his mother he must get the 
other side of his character, that of vivacity, of joyousness, 
of good fellowship, which predominated. The word "froh" 
thus becomes intelligible, not through the medium of lan- 
guage, but through a knowledge of Goethe's real character. 
We have, then, "From my mother (dearest), my joyous 
nature." 

The fourth line furnishes no word that helps us, unless it 
be "Fabuliren" from its likeness to our word "fable." 
Our process of inductive reasoning, together with a knowl- 
edge of Goethe's poetic genius, once more comes to our 
assistance. In the first two lines he tells us what his father 
bequeathed to him; is it not likely that in the last two he 
tells us of his inheritance from his mother? We know that 
he possessed great poetic genius, and a remarkable power 
of phantasy. It ought not to be difficult to infer that the 
last line means, "The love of phantasy," or "The power 
of poetic expression." The whole verse freely translated 
would express about the following thoughts: 



68 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

From father I my stature bear, 
My strength for serious striving ; 

From mother dear the nature fair, 
The fiction gift deriving. 

Now success in interpreting this stanza without a knowl- 
edge of German, depends upon previous knowledge of 
English, upon acquaintance with the life of Goethe, and 
upon the power of inductive reasoning. If either of these 
be lacking, the meaning will remain obscure. This serves 
to make clear the point under discussion, namely, that 
new ideas will be acquired easily or with difficulty, just in 
proportion to the newness or strangeness of the material 
presented. It will thus readily appear that he who knows 
several languages easily acquires a new one because of 
the similarity of words in different languages, and because 
of the fund of ideas already gained. It is said that Dr. 
Schliemann, the great archaeologist and discoverer of 
ancient Troy, who knew some fifty languages and dia- 
lects, could master a new language in three or four weeks. 
His knowledge of many languages made each new one less 
strange and, therefore, more easy of acquirement. 

If I were to see a typewriter for the first time, doubtless 
it would seem to be a curious instrument. But having seen 
a piano, its keys would hint to me that it was something 
to be played upon; knowing the alphabet, the presence 
of letters on the keys would suggest that by pressure upon 
them they are reproduced; and knowing that men com- 
municate their thoughts by writing, it would not be diffi- 
cult for me to conclude that this instrument is intended for 
writing. To a barbarian who had never seen a piano, did 
not know any alphabet, and was unfamiliar with the prac- 



THE GAINING OF KNOWLEDGE 69 

tice among men of writing to each other, it would be a 
profound mystery. To the one man it easily reveals its 
purpose; to the other its purpose is inexplicable. 

Old Material to be Utilized. — In learning new truths 
we utilize the knowledge we now possess as an introduction 
to the new, we call up whatever we have that has any rela- 
tion to new lessons we would learn. If we possess nothing 
that has such a bearing, the acquirement of the new knowl- 
edge will be correspondingly difficult. The bewilderment 
will be like that of the Indians in the city of Paris, or of 
a person first hearing the sounds of a strange tongue. The 
sounds will be mere jargon, without conveying any mean- 
ing. But after a time when we know some words, gradu- 
ally the meaningless character disappears as new words 
are learned, light breaks in and we understand. The 
most important pedagogical principle that the teacher can 
apply is, utilize all the related old material that the pupil 
possesses as an introduction to the new. 

It is like a stranger appearing at our door and asking 
hospitality. If he brings a letter of introduction from 
some friend, or if he is able to establish his identity through 
some acquaintance, we bid him welcome. The cordiality 
with which he is received will depend entirely upon the 
sympathy of interests that he can establish. So it is with 
new ideas that present themselves. They will be allowed 
to enter and find lodgment when relationship to those 
already in possession is discovered. 

This process will be recognized as what the Herbartian 
school of pedagogy calls apperception. Lange says,^ "Man 

* "Apperception," translated by the Herbart Club, p. i. 



70 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

enters life a stranger; he knows nothing of the world 
that receives him; it is to him a new, unknown country, 
which he must explore; which he must conquer. How is 
this to be done? Nature assails his senses with a thou- 
sand allurements; she sends the rays of light that she may 
open his eyes to the innumerable things of the outer world, 
she knocks upon the door of the human spirit with excita- 
tions of tone, and touch, and temperature, and all the 
other stimulations of the sensitive nerves, desiring admis- 
sion. The soul answers these stimuli with sensations, with 
ideas; it masters the outer world by perceiving it." 

Again he says,^ "In order that a sensation may arise, 
there is, as a rule, a fusion or union of its content with 
similar ideas and feelings. With the assistance of the 
latter, the sensation is held in consciousness, elevated into 
greater clearness, properly related to the remaining fields 
of thought, and so is truly assimilated. We call this second 
act in distinction from that of simple perception or the 
reception of a sensation, apperception, or mental assimila- 
tion. This is a psycliical process which has a validity be- 
yond mere subjective perception, and is of great signifi- 
cance for all knowledge, yes, even for our whole spiritual 
life." 

In support of the subject under discussion, we quote 
again from Lange;^"What is entirely new and can find 
no point of connection is either not understood or only 
superficially apprehended. On the other hand, the best 
instruction is given when the words of the teacher stir the 
inmost thoughts of the child, so that he is not passive, but 
wholly active. And so it remains true, as we have already 
> "Apperception," p. 5. ^ "Ibid.," p. 105. 



THE GAINING OF KNOWLEDGE 71 

seen, that the most eminent characteristic of learning is 
not to be denominated passivity, but activity, that all 
learning is apperceiving. 

"Accordingly it cannot be the duty of the teacher simply 
to transmit to the pupil the material of knowledge, or to 
communicate to him ideas, feelings, and sentiments, but 
to awaken, stimulate, and give life to mental activities. 
He has to reach down with regulative hand into those 
quiet private thoughts and feelings of the child in wliich 
lie his ego and his whole future, that they may rise above 
the threshold of consciousness and communicate under- 
standing, clearness, warmth, and life to instruction. In 
a word, he has to make provision that in every case the 
process of apperception is accomplished with as much 
thoroughness as certainty and judgment. Then not only 
will the matter taught be mechanically acquired, but it 
will be transformed at once into mental power; it will con- 
tribute steadily, by awakening thought and interest, to 
lift and ennoble the mental life." 

McMurry remarks,* "Apperception may be roughly 
defined at first as the process of acquiring new ideas by the 
aid of old ones already in mind. It makes the acquisition 
of new knowledge easier and quicker. Not that there is any 
easy road to learning, but there is a natural process which 
greatly accelerates the progress of acquisition, just as it is 
better to follow a highway over a rough country than to 
betake one's self to the stumps and brush. . . . One may 
perceive a new object without understanding it, but to 
apperceive it is to interpret its meaning by the aid of similar 
familiar notions." 

' "General Method," p. 257. 



72 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

The Work of the Teacher in the Process of Gaining 
Knowledge. — It now remains for us to consider the part 
that the teacher must take in the cultivation of the percep- 
tive and the apperceptive powers. In a word, what is the 
pedagogical application of the lessons this subject teaches? 
Perceptions are gained through the senses, and not only 
must the objects be brought within the range of the respec- 
tive senses, but the child must be taught to observe accu- 
rately. Many have "Eyes that see not," "Ears that hear 
not," and it is the duty of the teacher to inculcate in his 
pupils the habit of correctly using the senses. Pestalozzi's 
great service to the world lay in this direction. He made 
instruction not mere formal drudgery, but a living and in- 
teresting process. He transformed the school from a dreary 
prison house to which the children had to be driven, into a 
place of delight, and he did this by bringing his pupils into 
contact with things, by studying their real needs, their 
interests, and their natural development, and by making the 
school bright and interesting. Every teacher, especially of 
young children, must follow his example, giving chief atten- 
tion to the training of the perceptive faculties. 

Rosmini gives some very valuable suggestions as to train- 
ing the perceptions.^ "The child should be provided in 
abundance with objects to look at, touch, examine, and 
experiment upon — in a word, to perceive, and perceive 
more and more accurately. The objects chosen should be 
those which most attract his attention, which will also be 
those which satisfy his wants, his desires, and give him 
pleasure; for it is only by these that his attention is aroused. 

"It will be found useful also to present him simple 
' "Method in Education," p. 82. 



THE GAINING OF KNOWLEDGE 73 

objects in the following order — for example, the seven 
colors of the rays of light, one after the other; also white and 
black; and, still better, the harmonic scale of colors, the 
succession of which will delight him. Let him hear, in the 
same way, the seven primary notes, first in succession, then 
by degrees in their harmonic intervals and chords; then 
give him solids to play with, to the proportions of which, in 
form and measurement, his eye and hand may become 
accustomed, at the same time that they impress themselves 
on his imagination. Later on, but not till much later, the 
child may be familiarized with more colors, more sounds, 
more forms harmoniously combined, but always by degrees, 
and never passing on to a new play till he shows weariness 
of the old. It must be evident that, besides other advan- 
tages, the reception of so many well-ordered images into 
his mind will both provide fitting material for his future 
reflection, and facilitate the intellectual operations he will 
soon be called upon to undertake, not to mention that his 
mind itself perceives a precious moral benefit from insen- 
sibly conforming itself to order, and being trained to a 
feeling of beauty." 

How Much to Give. — The amount of material that the 
teacher should give his pupils is always a puzzling question 
requiring wisdom, judgment, a knowledge of children, and 
pedagogic insight. There must be a sufRcient amount to 
keep the pupils stimulated and active on the one hand, and 
not enough to discourage or fail to obtain a thorough 
mastery of the material on the other hand. Upon this point 
I quote again from Rosmini : ^ "It may be laid down in gen- 

^ "Method in Education," p. 128. 



74 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

eral, that the positive portion of intellectual and moral 
education should be least in the earliest period of infancy, 
and go on enlarging with each successive period; but what 
is the law which governs this continued extension? In a 
word, what are its limits in each period? The answer to 
these questions must be arrived at by manifold experi- 
ments and observations — which are now, thank Heaven! 
beginning to be made — and it is high time that the art of 
experiment and observation should be applied to educa- 
tion." 

It was nearly half a century before this fertile suggestion 
of the great Italian thinker was seriously carried out. 
The child study movement of recent years is seeking to 
solve this very problem, and it has already contributed 
valuable data towards its solution. 

The Apperceptive Process.^ — The pedagogical require- 
ments in respect to apperception are more difficult to meet 
than those of perception, and they are of even greater 
importance, for, unless the apperceptive process is fulfilled 
there can be no complete education. Lange indicates 
three features to be observed in the treatment of appercep- 
tion, as follows: 

1. With reference to the objects of apperception. 
(Choice and arrangement of the material of instruction.) 

2. With reference to the subject apperceiving. (Inves- 
tigation, enlargement, and utilization of the child's store of 
experience.) 

' In the discussion which follows, I shall be guided somewhat by Langc's 
treatment of this subject, and even where direct quotations are not made, 
I desire to acknowledge full credit to that author. 



THE GAINING OF KNOWLEDGE 75 

3. Proper union of the factors of apperception in learn- 
ing. (The process of teaching.) 

Taking the topics in order we will study their meaning, 
and endeavor to discover the practical, pedagogical lessons 
they teach. 

I. The objects of apperception, or the choice and arrange- 
ment of material. — A great deal of thought has been de- 
voted to the answer of this question, which has been ex- 
pressed in the course of study, as we have seen elsewhere. 
(Chapter V.) We have first the "Seven liberal arts" of 
the Middle Ages, the first crude attempt to arrange the 
material of instruction ; then the elaborate system of Sturm, 
which Professor Williams pronounces to be the "very 
earliest scheme that we have, looking to an extended, sys- 
tematic, well-articulated course of studies for a school of 
several teachers, in which is assigned to each class such 
portions of the subject-matter of the course of instruction 
as is suited to the age and stage of advancement of its 
pupils;" then the Ratio Studiorum of the Jesuits, laying 
stress upon the humanities and theology; and, finally, the 
courses which represent most modern ideas. 

The Herbartian school answers the question as to 
material in what is known as the " Culture Epochs Theory." 
This theory holds that every child passes through the same 
periods of development that the race has passed through, 
and, therefore, the material to be selected for any given 
period of the child's development must be drawn largely 
from the corresponding epoch of racial development. Ziller, 
a disciple of Herbart, who first promulgated this theory, 
says, "The mental development of the child corresponds 



76 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

in general to the chief phases in the development of his 
people or of mankind. The mind-development of the 
child, therefore, cannot be better furthered than when he 
receives his mental nourishment from the general develop- 
ment of culture as it is laid down in literature and history. 
Every pupil should, accordingly, pass successively through 
each of the chief epochs of the general mental development 
of mankind suitable to his stage of advancement." 

It should be mentioned that this theory is not exclusively 
Herbartian. Rosmini,^ independently of the German school 
says, "History shows the same epochs in the individual 
as in the whole human race. The infant begins by believ- 
ing everything, just as in early forms of civilization men 
are credulous." Professor J. Mark Baldwin remarks, "The 
infant is an embryo person, a social unit in the process of 
forming; and he is, in these early stages, plainly recapitu- 
lating the items in the soul history of the race." 

Based upon this theory, Ziller planned the centers for 
the course in the eight years of the German "Volkschule" 
as follows: i. The epic folklore stories; 2. Robinson 
Crusoe; 3. History of the Biblical patriarchs; 4. The 
judges of Israel ; 5. The kings of Israel; 6. The life of 
Jesus; 7. Apostolic history; 8. The Reformation. He 
teaches that in these thought wholes of material the pupil 
traverses, "Corresponding to his own development, the 
chief periods in the development of mankind." Van Liew 
thinks that Ziller draws the line too sharply. He says,^ 
"These epochs, the characterization of which must ever 

* It will be remembered that Rosmini was an Italian writer who prob- 
ably was not acquainted with Herbart's writings. His book was written 
in 1839, a longtime before Ziller promulgated the "Culture Epochs Theory." 

' The First Year Book of the Herbartian Society, p. 89. 



THE GAINING OF KNOWLEDGE 77 

remain general in nature, so far as educational needs are 
concerned, cannot be held to too narrow and definite time 
limitations; this follows from the very conception of devel- 
opment. They must be given freedom and breadth, 
allowed to overlap and to lose their boundary lines in one 
another." 

While the "Culture Epochs Theory" may be valuable 
in suggesting material for the study of history and litera- 
ture, to apply it in all the subjects of the school course 
necessitates the bending of the course to meet the theory, 
rather than utilizing the theory in the formation of a course 
of study. In literature, the myths, fairy-tales, stories from 
the Bible, or from Homer, accounts of deeds of chivalry, as 
well as the various kinds of modern literature, furnish most 
suggestive and suitable material for children of all ages. In 
history, too, though perhaps in a less marked degree, the 
same is true. But in other subjects, such as arithmetic, 
science, art, etc., the theory offers nothing of value. More- 
over, the process of development in tlie child is more rapid 
correspondingly than that of the race. The primitive 
forms of manufacture employed by the race, even less than 
a century ago, have been supplanted by improved ma- 
chinery made necessary by harnessing the forces of steam, 
electricity, and the air. There is no longer any need of 
employing the crude handiwork formerly in use, and it is, 
therefore, folly to carry the pupils through all the stages 
of slow development throughout the earlier centuries. The 
"Culture Epochs Theory," therefore, does not furnish a 
solution of the question as to choice of material, though it 
is suggestive in certain fields. The materials chosen must 
be suited to the three well-defined epochs in the child's 



78 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

development, namely, the intuitive, the imaginative, and 
the logical, and the method of presentation likewise must 
follow these natural periods of development. To divide 
the child's life into eight or more periods, corresponding 
with the eight elementary school years, is an arbitrary and 
superficial discrimination/ 

2. The subject apperceiving, or the child and his store 
of experience. — Lange says,^ "The teacher must see to it 
that the pupil holds in readiness numerous similar, strong, 
and well-arranged ideas, for the new material that instruc- 
tion is to bring to the understanding." From the very 
nature of things the teacher must be acquainted with the 
child-mind, its activities, its manner of unfolding, its needs. 
He must know how to discover what the child really knows, 
what he brings with him when he enters the class. Citing 
Lange again, "It is certain that the child brings to school 
in the numerous, important, and strong ideas, feelings and 
inclinations acquired in youth, at the same time the best 
and most vivid helps to apperception in the recitation. 
But the content and extent of these are nowhere entirely 
the same, and in many pupils often differ strikingly from 
one another." 

Investigations have been undertaken in recent years for 
the purpose of discovering the content of the child's mind 
at any given period. Many of these have been futile and 
valueless; but some have added materially to the pedago- 
gical knowledge of the subject, and further investigations 
in this field are destined to do still greater good. When 
the teacher has found out what the child already knows, 

* See McMurry's "Method of the Recitation," old cd., p. 90. 
' "Apperception," p. 151. 



THE GAINING OF KNOWLEDGE 79 

he is ready to build upon whatever foundation exists, 
strengthening its weak points, adding to and constructing 
further until a building fitly joined and complete is reared. 

The child has picked up a great deal of knowledge before 
he comes to school. The first duty of the teacher is to 
find out what experiences the child already possesses, and 
then proceed slowly and surely to make him familiar with 
the vast field with which he is eager to become acquainted. 
The child has thus far been influenced entirely by 
his environment. He has seen many objects, or possibly 
pictures of objects in the marvelous picture books for 
children, and has become somewhat familiar with the 
objects represented. I knew a boy three years of age, 
that could call the names of forty or more animals from a 
picture book that he possessed. The cliild's knowledge will 
best be enlarged by showing him familiar things, telling liim 
all about them, and then gradually proceeding to new things. 
Thus he begins geography by studying the schoolroom, 
the schoolyard, the brook, the hills, the immediate environ- 
ment. Nature is studied at first hand by going out into 
the fields, picking the flowers, watcliing the birds, observ- 
ing insects, studying the things themselves. 

A group of boys from twelve to fourteen years of age 
were taken to the village of Mohra in Thuringia, where 
Luther's parents lived previous to his birth. A monument 
stands near the house in which they lived, having various 
inscriptions on each side of the shaft. After examining 
the monument on all sides, the teacher gathered them to 
one side, and questioned them as to what was inscribed 
thereon. So well had these boys been taught to observe, 
that every one of them could tell the somewhat lengthy 



8o ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

inscriptions on each of the four sides. They had been 
trained to see and fix in memory what they saw. German 
and French teachers often take their pupils on excursions, 
not merely for an outing, but for the purpose of instructing 
them in matters that could not be learned in the schoolroom. 
In company with Professor Stoy, about fifty boys, and some 
teachers and students, I once visited the great battle-field 
of Jena where Napoleon gained a signal victory over the 
Prussians and reduced their kingdom to a mere tributary 
country. By a careful study of the history of that period, 
the boys had been prepared for the lesson of the day. The 
respective positions of the French and the Prussians were 
pointed out, the movements of each army indicated, and 
the details of that great, decisive battle outlined. Every 
boy gained an insight into the history of his country, and 
an understanding of one of its most important events such 
as never could have been obtained from books. This 
same idea could be carried out, even if no great battle-field 
is close at hand, in connection with the ordinary things of 
life, and the lessons can be made vivid, impressive, and 
lasting. Material gathered in this way will furnish abun- 
dant topics for composition, for the child loves to tell with 
tongue or pen what he knows. 

A like course can be pursued with arithmetic and other 
subjects of the school course. Through the use of objects 
the knowledge already possessed can be utilized and made 
to lead directly to new knowledge. 

In the words of Lange,^ "We are at the end of our answer 
to the question. What can the teacher do for the subject of 
apperception? How can he provide for his instruction 
* "Apperception," p. 199. 



THE GAINING OF KNOWLEDGE 8l 

sufficient apperceiving ideas in the consciousness of the 
pupil? We found that it was his duty to gain a definite 
view into the pupils' range of thought, especially in the ex- 
tremely important experience that they have acquired 
previous to all instruction, to brighten and deepen this and 
to enlarge it through suitable home instruction. We 
emphasized further that he must, in the most careful man- 
ner, join all his instruction to the acquired experience of 
the pupils in many ways, especially through advancing 
instruction." 

3. The union of the subject and the object of appercep- 
tion, or the process of teaching. — Great stress should be 
laid upon the process of instruction. This is so important 
that another chapter will be devoted to it. Rosmini offers 
some excellent suggestions as to errors in instruction with 
which this chapter will close.* They are as follows: 

(a.) " Sometimes the intellectual activity of the child be- 
comes annoying and troublesome, and an attempt is made 
to repress it by authority, refusing it sufficient food. 

(&.) " Sometimes the material memory of the child is bur- 
dened, wliile its intelligence is left to starve — which is 
not only a most serious injury to the little, intelligent crea- 
ture, who craves only to understand, but also cruel and 
inhuman. 

(c.) "Sometimes it is given food not adapted to it; in 
other words, it is called upon to perform acts of a higher 
order than it has yet attained to — in which case, to under- 
stand anything beyond mere words is an absolute impos- 

^ "Method in Education," p. 112. 



82 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

sibility. Sometimes the cognitions required of it are not 
beyond its powers, but the intellectual attention lacks the 
necessary stimulus to make the effort to attain them. 

{d.) "Finally, even when the cognitions required of the 
childish intelligence are proposed to it in their order, and 
accompanied by the appropriate stimuli, there is failure, 
because the teacher passes from one thing to another, with- 
out having assured himself that the first tiling was duly 
understood, and that the child is really following the suc- 
cessive steps of the teaching; in other words, he does not 
give the child time to take in matter, to master it, and to 
recover from a kind of surprise which every new idea pro- 
duces in him." 

Summary 

I. The child first gains knowledge through the senses. 
These should he carefully and systematically trained in order 
that the perceptions may be vivid and accurate. 

II. The material chosen should be suited to the stage of 
development of the child. Niw knowledge should be based 
upon the old — proceed from the known to the unknown. 
The ease with which new ideas are gain d will depend upon 
their newness or strangeness. The success of th ' apper- 
ceptive process depends upon the thorough harmony into 
which the new is brought with the old. Unless knowledge 
is apperceived it is lost and useless — it is not gained. 



CHAPTER VII 

THE PROCESS OF EDUCATION 

References. — McMiirry, The Method of the Recitation; Mor- 
gan, Studies in Pedagogy; Prince, Courses of Studies and Methods 
of Teaching; White, The Art of Teaching; Fitch, Lectures on 
Teaching; Lange, Apperception; De Garmo, Essentials of Method. 

Real Purpose of the School. — The object for which the 
school is maintained is not the mere keeping of the children 
out of the street for a given number of hours per day; not 
the preserving of order and the maintaining of decent control, 
though these are essential in every school ; it is not to relieve 
the home of the care and training of its young, and to furnish 
a place of safety for them while parents attend to other 
duties; not even to fill their minds with a mass of knowledge; 
it is to form habits through proper disciphne, to impart 
knowledge, to build character, and the principal medium 
through which this is accomplished is instruction. The 
teacher is in possession of material which is to be trans- 
mitted to his pupils. The method by which this is accom- 
plished should be sound, and the manner of carrying out that 
method skilful. Hence the necessity of trained teachers, 
prepared most carefully and thoroughly. As has been 
shown elsewhere (p. 259), the purpose of instruction is 
to cancel the difference between the teacher and the pupil. 
It follows that the better equipped the teacher, both as to 
material and method, the more hope for the pupil, and the 
greater his advantages. 

In the foregoing chapter we indicated the third step in 

83 



84 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

the pedagogical requirements with reference to appercep- 
tion, to be the process of bringing the object of apperception, 
that is, the subject-matter, to the consciousness of the 
child. The Herbartians have given many valuable sugges- 
tions as to this process in their formal steps of the recitation 
(Formalstufen). Lange says,^ " The process of appercep- 
tion does not by any means properly develop itself in the 
child; experience teaches rather, that even under the most 
favorable circumstances v^hen the cliild is offered the 
material of instruction for which it already possesses 
numerous apperceiving ideas, the connection of the old 
with the new not infrequently fails to be made. This is 
the case, if the consciousness of the pupil during the instruc- 
tion is either filled with foreign thoughts and feelings which 
do not permit the apperception helps to arise; or if the 
latter lacks the requisite strength and clearness, the neces- 
sary order and completeness, and therefore power, to grasp 
apperceivingly the ideas called forth by instruction. Hence, 
it does not suffice that the learner possesses apperception 
aids for the new; they must also be at his disposal with the 
greatest clearness at the right time and place. They must 
likewise, in the moment of learning, stand at the threshold 
of consciousness to present to the new all related elements, 
and so to grasp the new knowledge as to prepare for it the 
right mood and correct understanding." In other words, 
the new material must be withheld until the child has been 
prepared to receive it. This brings us to the discussion of 
the first of the formal steps. 

I. Preparation. — The teacher meets his class with new 
truth and new material which he is prepared to give to them. 
* "Apperception," p. 200. 



THE PROCESS OF EDUCATION 8$ 

He is thorough master of his subject as well as of the 
method of presenting it. But he must first be assured that 
his pupils also are ready. It is not enough that they sit 
erect, faces to the front, bodies still, and with the air of 
attention. While these are essential, they are mere exter- 
nalities or mechanical requirements. The knowledge 
already possessed, which has a bearing upon the theme to 
be treated, must be discovered and brought forward. 

The child must be encouraged to talk freely about the 
subject, but must not be allowed to roam over the whole 
world as some children are inclined to do if free range is 
given to them. They must be held to the theme before them 
and not allowed to wander into other fields, no matter how 
much they may be interested in those fields, or how much 
they may know about them. They must be taught to think 
of the matter in hand and of nothing else. A teacher was 
presenting the subject of percentage to a class of girls, and 
as a preliminary exercise, he attempted to find out what 
they already knew about it. He found them very ready to 
talk, but not to the point. One little miss after frantically 
waving her hand, gained his attention and asked, "What 
do you think of the decline of the grain elevators of Minne- 
sota?" "What in the world has the grain elevator to do 
with percentage?" queried the teacher. "I don't know, " 
she replied, " but papa was talking about it last night and I 
wondered what you thought of it." Her father was a 
member of the Chicago grain exchange, and had been 
discussing the subject of elevators in her presence. The 
teacher must know exactly what he wants and hold his 
pupils to a consideration of the subject in hand and no 
other. "The pupil must first become at home in definite 



86 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

old groups of thought; he must pass through these old 
groups with a certain warmth and ease before we offer him 
the new; he must feel firm ground under his feet for the 
new mental operations that instruction exacts from him. 
If the preparatory conversation makes it apparent that the 
existing apperceiving ideas are too weak and unsatis- 
factory, it becomes necessary for the preparation to pro- 
vide what is lacking."* 

From the outset the teacher must not only have a 
clear idea of what he intends to impart, but he must 
transmit that idea to the class. The end to be sought 
should be cleverly set forth and the teacher should repeat 
the preparatory exercise times enough, and should so 
order and arrange it that the pupil is able fully to compre- 
hend it. Nothing is gained by haste; it pays to do this 
work thoroughly, as will appear later, in gaining complete 
mastery. "If we should pass over the material but once, 
and in the order in which it would appear by chance, many 
contradictions would remain unreconciled, and many prin- 
cipal thoughts not seldom be lost in a mass of incidentals. 
A brief summing up, suitable to the content of the ideas, 
and a separation of the essential from the unessential is 
therefore absolutely necessary; and not less so, a sufficient 
repetition and impressing of that which, as yet, shows itself 
uncertain and wavering. When this is neglected, we stop 
half way, and apperception, in spite of the preparation, 
cannot be accomplished with requisite ease."^ 

There should be the greatest freedom allowed the pupils 
in the disc;ussion of the material, the caution already men- 
tioned being observed, that they be not permitted to digress 
' Lange, p. 202. ^ Ibid., p. 203. 



THE PROCESS OF EDUCATION 87 

to any great extent. They should be encouraged to talk 
freely, telling their own experiences in their own way. 
Suggestive questions from the teacher will guide the con- 
versation and serve to bring out what is desired. Lange 
shows that by this method/ "The dullest mind has time to 
act, and even the retiring disposition is encouraged by the 
confidential tone of conversation. No one should be 
omitted in the relation of his experience, and each, accord- 
ing to the measure of his knowledge, will add something 
to the new thought-structure. Every one rejoices that his 
own knowledge, which has heretofore been smuggled in as 
forbidden ware as compared with the word of the teacher, 
is recognized and respected, and each looks forward to 
every new lesson with redoubled interest. This condition 
of mind is the most favorable that the new material can 
meet; the apperceptive process is introduced in the very 
best way possible." 

Illustration. — It may be mentioned that the preparation 
of the lesson which the child makes in his seat or at home 
previous to his appearance in class, is not under consider- 
ation. We are considering his preparation needed to re- 
ceive the instruction that is to follow. That such prepara- 
tion is essential, a familiar illustration will emphasize. 
The husbandman understands that if he is to secure a 
crop he must not scatter his seed aimlessly, no matter how 
good that seed may be, how skilfully it may be deposited, or 
how rich the soil. He must first laboriously plow, and 
harrow, and work up the soil until it is mellow and rich, 
ready to invite the fruitful seed to its bosom, when, under 

' Lange, p. 212. 



88 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

the blessing of heaven, it will in due time yield its increase, 
"some thirty, some sixty, and some an hundred fold." No 
better illustration can be given suggesting a parallel in the 
teacher's vi^ork of instruction. Much of his sowing goes to 
waste because of too little attention being paid to preparing 
his pupils for the reception of the truth. The pupil must be 
prepared to receive the seed or much of it will fall upon 
stony ground and bear no fruit. There can be no better 
expenditure of time and effort than in getting the soil 
ready for the reception of the seed of truth, and that prep- 
aration is made through calling up the old, related knowl- 
edge already possessed by the child. 

2. Presentation. — With the interest awakened, the 
correlated, matter brought forward, the soil prepared, the 
next step in instruction is the presentation of the new 
material. It is needless to reiterate that the teacher should 
be equipped with a complete mastery of the subject-matter. 
In addition to this, he should be acquainted with the 
mental activities of the child, and their development, 
should possess skilled judgment and discretion as to the 
amount of material to be given and the method of present- 
ing it to the particular class in hand, be endowed with the 
faculty of bringing himself to the level of the child's mind, 
and of entering fully into the child's sympathies. A 
definite aim has already been demanded in the first step, 
that of preparation. The method of presentation to be 
employed will depend upon the stage of development and 
capacity of the pupils, upon the subject under discussion, 
and upon the end sought. A consideration of different 
methods will follow in a later chapter. 

Great discretion must be exercised in giving the right 



THE PROCESS OF EDUCATION 89 

amount of material. Seed sown too thick in a field 
grows a mass of stalks and yields but little harvest; 
and the richer the soil, the more rank the growth of stalk, 
the more choked the crop becomes. The same holds good 
in the presentation of material to children. There is more 
danger of giving too much than too little, for the teacher 
is apt to measure his pupils' capacity by his own. The 
young teacher needs especially to observe this caution. 
There is no better test of the wisdom, experience, and good 
judgment of the teacher, than is shown in this particular 
direction. Too much food instead of nourishing and 
strengthening the body serves as a detriment and a burden, 
and the same is true of the mind. 

Upon this point Lange wisely remarks,^ "It is clear that 
even well-prepared matter cannot be thoroughly mastered 
if the ideas are forced too rapidly upon the consciousness 
of the learner, or if they are too weakly and obscurely 
presented. The pupil will not become master of the 
material if he is overwhelmed with too much at once, if 
the teacher fails to linger upon difficult points with neces- 
sary stress, if the material is not presented in proper order 
and with proper clearness, and if the attention is not held. 
The more time given to the individual members or parts 
of the object to be studied in order that it may unfold 
clearly and intelligently to the consciousness of the children, 
the more opportunity the pupil has to appropriate the pre- 
sented notions that are to be apperceived, the better they 
will be apperceived and the better learned. It follows that 
the amount of material given must be measured ty the 
capacity of the pupil, in order that neither too much nor too 
little may be asked of him ; such material must be properly 

' "Apperception," p. 213. 



90 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

connected in order that he shall not receive it as a mass, 
but rather that it may be fixed in liis mind according to the 
law of successive clearness, from section to section, from 
item to item." 

It is of utmost importance, as we have seen, that the 
pupils themselves be allowed to take part in the exercise. 
This is especially true of young children. Attention can- 
not long be held by any other method; besides, through 
expressing their own thoughts and by hearing other chil- 
dren express theirs, they gain insight into the new truths 
presented. There must be a combination of the act of 
imparting by the teacher and reciting by the pupils in 
order to maintain interest and secure the best results. No 
doubt more ground can be covered by the imparting or 
lecture method, and, therefore, with advanced students, 
this may be employed; but with young children the cate- 
chetical method should be adopted in order that the apper- 
ceiving process may be completely successful. It is not a 
question of the amount of ground covered, but of the 
thorough assimilation of the new ideas with the old. This 
process must of necessity be slow, owing to the limited 
number of related ideas that the child possesses. 

With a clear consciousness on the part of the teacher as to 
the kind of material to be presented, and as to the capacity 
of the children, with a definite aim as to the result to be 
reached, this step in the process of instruction should thus 
be carried out upon a psychological basis and should bear 
abundant fruit. 

3. Association. — When the new ideas are really brought 
over the threshold of the child's consciousness, are indeed 
apperceived by him, they must be so associated with and 



THE PROCESS OF EDUCATION 9 1 

related to the old ones as to become, as it were, perfectly 
at home. They are no longer strangers, or guests even, 
they are a part of the household, they belong to the family. 
These new ideas should be employed and familiarized until 
they are no longer new, until their strangeness has disap- 
peared. It is like food taken into the stomach, thoroughly 
digested, turned into blood, circulated to every part of the 
body, changed into bone and tissue, becoming a part of 
the man. It is no longer foreign, it is assimilated, and 
incorporated with the old until it is as much a part of the 
body as any material previously absorbed. So must it be 
with new ideas. They must be so thorouglily associated 
with those already gained as to have a definite and abiding 
place among them. This is accomplished through repeti- 
tion, through illustration, through questioning, through 
variety in method, and through reflection. It often happens 
that the presentation of a fact by one method would 
carry conviction ; by another, it would remain strange 
and unfamiliar. Hence the necessity of approaching 
a subject from a variety of standpoints and by different 
methods. New materials that are not thus settled in their 
relations to those established are of but little value and are 
soon forgotten. Much teaching goes to waste from a 
lack of appreciation of this fact. Hence the importance 
of association as a step in the work of instruction. 

4. Recapitulation. — It now follows that the pupil 
should be required to reproduce the lesson as a whole in 
order to see whether its relations have been comprehended, 
and to fix the logical sequences. Kern says, "No lesson 
is completely learned until the pupil is able to restate all 
of its parts in the form of a logical summary." Recapitu- 



92 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

lation gathers up the individual parts of the lesson and pre- 
sents them as a whole. The lesson may indeed have been 
well taught and its truths vividly presented, but if there is 
failure to summarize and classify the results as a culmina- 
tion of the work, the best results will not be attained. The 
power to analyze, outline, or classify a discourse to which 
one has listened is a measure of the trained intelligence 
possessed. The impression of a sermon or lecture is often 
evanescent because of the lack of this power. The culti- 
vation of this power is therefore of vital consequence in 
education, and it should begin with young children in con- 
nection with the instruction given in each class. It is of 
great value as a means of retaining the lessons taught. 

Lange remarks,* "The presentation of the new material 
closes with a recapitulation and review of the whole by the 
pupil. He should now show by a systematic reproduction 
of the lesson presented that he has fully understood the 
subject. 'The best test that a person has understood a 
thing is, that he can reproduce it in his own way, with his 
own words ' (Herder). So, then, if the separate parts of 
the new arc more closely united by many repetitions, the 
entirety will be more strongly impressed upon the mind. 
To every lesson which offers something new, belongs the 
mission of making a definite, well-defined series of ideas 
the inalienable property of the child. But the formation 
of such fixed ideas would be furthered but little if the repe- 
tition and combination of the material learned should pro- 
ceed in the form of repeated questioning and analyzing 
of such material, i.e., if the pupil is not required to give 
the whole matter at once, but is allowed to give it piecemeal. 

' "Apperception," p. 218. 



THE PROCESS OF EDUCATION 93 

.... Then apperception would, to all outward appear- 
ance, never reach perfection. We always require, there- 
fore, a complete, free narration, an independent, connected 
presentation of what is learned. We allow the pupil to 
speak freely and without hindrance, without interrupting 
his course of thought by questions or suggestions. As a 
rule, we do not interfere even when he mixes in error or 
forgets important things; but after the conclusion of his 
presentation, we ask the whole class to rectify errors, supply 
deficiencies, and correct an incomplete rendering. Further, 
we must avoid forcing the pupils to comprehend or grasp 
the whole by means of prepared forms of expression that 
are not clear to him." 

Rules. — This combats the idea of committing a rule 
to memory before it is understood, but it does not forbid 
the committing of rules as a final act of recapitulation. 
Indeed, for an individual to possess definite rules that 
govern his life and conduct is an evidence of the right kind 
of education. Without rules he is a vagabond, intellectu- 
ally and physically, as well as morally. From the outset, 
the mother trains her child to obey rules governing its 
physical life, — regularity of meals and of sleeping-hours, 
cleanly habits, obedience to the laws of the home and of the 
community. The maintenance of health and the happiness 
of the child depend largely upon its knowledge of such rules 
and obedience to them. Moral life depends upon the pos- 
session of rules or maxims of common acceptance, and the 
living up to them. Every person established in his ethical 
life is governed by rules which have been committed to 
memory, whose significance has been explained, and the 
importance of obedience to these rules has been impressed 



94 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

upon him. "As ye would that men should do unto you, 
do ye even so unto them," "Honesty is the best policy," 
"Govern your passions or they will govern you," 
"To err is human, to forgive, divine," "Forgive us 
our debts, as we forgive our debtors," are ethical 
principles the possession of which does a great deal to 
safeguard a person from evil. Just so there are intellect- 
ual laws and principles that hold one to correct thinking. 
A child may be trained in a home of culture and grow up 
to use correct English. This will not answer as a substi- 
tute for the study of grammar. He must not only speak 
correctly, but later in life he must know the rules for the 
use of language through which he may "prove all things," 
may fortify and establish the ground on which he stands. 
Without this he must ever remain uncertain and insecure 
in his use of language. 

A rule is a sort of recapitulation. The child should first 
state the truth in his owti language as proof that he has 
comprehended, as the quotation from Lange on a preced- 
ing page shows; but after he has furnished proof that he 
understands, after the corrections and criticisms of the 
class have been made, then a carefully worded rule or prin- 
ciple should be given him to commit to memory. It is no 
easy matter to formulate a rule that states the whole truth 
and nothing but the truth, in language that will stand the 
test of criticism. It requires the closest thought of a wise 
person, and surely this may not be expected of a child. Nor 
will such memorizing be by any means a difficult task for 
the child who has been prepared for it by a gradual 
approach, and to whom it is a mere recapitulation in cor- 
rect language of what he has already learned. A rule is 



THE PROCESS OF EDUCATION 95 

a standard or norm, and the more norms of truth that 
the individual has stored away, whether it be regarding 
the ethical, intellectual, or physical aspect, the better he is 
educated. 

A rule should not be committed to memory at the out- 
set without understanding its meaning. Let the truth be 
reached by an inductive process, and let its statement be a 
recapitulation of the material mastered and comprehended. 
It is a sound educational doctrine to require at this stage, 
stated rules, principles, summaries, or outlines to be com- 
mitted to memory as the final act in the process of instruc- 
tion and as a means of fixing material which has been 
skilfully presented, brought into intimate relation through 
association, as the summary of the result. These norms 
thus stored away will constitute reserves upon which 
to draw, and supply the mind with certain and tried 
standards of accepted truth. 

5. Application. — It now remains to apply the general 
concepts that have been gained to concrete cases. Lange 
thinks that "the application of universal concepts to the 
concrete, seldom comes of itself; it must be taught, shown, 
and practiced in every branch of study," The child is 
apt to think of the school as another world from that in 
which he lives out of school, and the school itself is often 
responsible for that feeling because it fails closely to touch 
life. The school should come into intimate relation with 
the verities of every-day life, and this final step of instruc- 
tion, or that which may be said to succeed instruction, 
application, will clinch the whole process and reduce it 
to practical value. Schoolwork should be applied to 
the activities of the home, the vocation, the recreation, the 



96 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

social relations. The paving of a neighboring street, the 
construction of a house, the planting or harvesting of a 
crop, dealings in the shop and at the store, a hundred varied 
and daily transactions, will suggest abundant examples in 
arithmetic. What better means of illustrating and apply- 
ing the various tables of measure than could be found by 
taking a class to a house under construction? Let the 
pupils compute the cubic yards excavated from the cellar; 
the contents of the cellar wall; the amount of lumber in the 
timbers of the framework, and in the boards for covering; 
the shingles of the roof; the lathing and plastering; the 
surface to be painted, — in a word, the whole work of 
construction and cost of the same, from lifting the first 
shovelful of earth to the last square of papering. This 
would doubtless take a long time, but there would be con- 
stant application even while the instruction is going on. 
And, when completed, it would be found that the pupils 
thoroughly understand what they have studied. 

By a similar plan, geography can be taught and applied. 
Take the pupils to a neighboring creek, or bay, or moun- 
tain, and let them study it as a real thing, not as something 
described in the text-book. History may be treated in a 
like manner, especially if there are points of historic interest 
near at hand. Language work may be made intensely 
practical by having pupils describe with pen or orally 
the incidents and things concerning which they know 
something. And so on with all the subjects of the 
curriculum. In this way, by means of constant and practi- 
cal application the teacher will illustrate the truth that the 
school not only prepares for life, but it is life itself. 



THE PROCESS OF EDUCATION 97 

McMurry offers some valuable suggestions on this point:* 
"Children who have learned to apply one lesson thoroughly 
are ready and eager to grapple with new problems. There 
is no better test of successful progress in studies than this 
power to render practical account of our possessions, and 
there is no better guarantee for future energetic effort. 

" One conclusion that springs from this entire discussion 
is, that the proper use of knowledge has to he learned. It 
does not come by accident or inadvertence, but is the result 
of definite purpose and rigorous effort. Even if later life 
with its severer tests were not to follow, the school would 
need the tonic of this kind of effort to adapt and use knowl- 
edge in order to bring schoolwork to proper unity and 
completeness. 

"We may now glance back at the lesson unit, in the treat- 
ment of which application is the final step. In working up 
to a general truth or concept through particulars, we have 
followed the inductive movement through the steps of prep- 
aration, presentation, comparison, and generalization. A 
single central thought, which lies at the root of the lesson 
unity, has dominated the entire movement. In the appli- 
cation we are still operating with this central truth, turn- 
ing it about, testing it with new data, and detecting the 
various forms in which it clothes itself. The length of time, 
that is, the number of recitations required in working out 
this general truth through all the five steps, depends upon 
the simplicity or complexity of the central truth itself, and 
the amount of data required to develop and apply it." 

There is no doubt that a strict adherence to the five 
formal steps as a method of procedure in each recitation 

* "Method of the Recitation," p. 234. 



gg ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

would have a tendency to make teaching mechanical, to 
rob the teacher of originality, and to destroy his individu- 
ality. Surely such was not the intent of those who formu- 
lated this scheme. Indeed, the successful carrying out of 
this plan with a topic will often involve several recitation 
periods. It may require a whole period to prepare the pupils 
for the new truth, another for its presentation, and so on; 
but it maintains a unity of thought and purpose whether 
one period or ten periods may be required, and therefore 
reaches a definite end. It furnishes a logical, systematic, 
and natural order of instruction. 

A knowledge of the formal steps, then, may be of great 
value to the teacher as a guide and as a natural plan to be 
followed. It furnishes a definite and scientific scheme as 
against an absence of plan, a groping in the dark. It is 
methodical, but not mechanical; it requires system, but it is 
not so pedantic as to destroy the individuality of the teacher. 
It never loses sight of the end to be reached in instruction, 
namely, the apperception of the knowledge-material on the 
part of the pupil. 

Summary 

I. Instruction is the process whereby the difference in 
knowledge between two persons is wholly or in part can- 
celled. The main purpose of the school is to furnish instruc- 
tion, the maintenance of order and the supplying of material 
means being merely for the purpose of making instruction 
possible and effective. It should be systematic, intelligent, 
and forceful. It implies the possession of knowledge and 
skill in imparting it; hence the necessity of trained teachers. 



THE PROCESS OF EDUCATION 99 

//. There are Jive steps of instruction to he observed, 
namely, (i) preparation, (2) presentation, (3) association, 
(4) recapitulation, and (5) application. In general, these 
steps suggest the natural and logical order of procedure so 
as to secure the apperceptive results. The teacher, how- 
ever, should not be so bound by these formal steps as to for- 
feit his own individuality. 



CHAPTER VIII 

METHODS OF INSTRUCTION 

References. — Roark, Method in Education; Rein, Encyklo- 
padisches Handbuch der Padagogik, Vol. V; White, Elements of 
Pedagogy; De Gar mo, Essentials of Method; McMuny, General 
Method; McMurry, Method of the Recitation; McMurry, Special 
Methods in Geography, History, English Classics, etc.; Prince, 
Courses and Methods; Smith, Systematic Methodology. 

Knowledge and Method. — Many urge that the essential 
thing for the teacher is knowledge of the subjects he is to 
teach. They say, "If he knows his subject, he can teach 
it." It will readily be admitted that one cannot teach 
what one does not know, and therefore the first essential 
for the teacher is knowledge of the subject-matter. No 
amount of skilful manipulation, no pleasant manner, no 
happy gift in presentation, can be a substitute for lack of 
knowledge, though it may temporarily seem to be. No 
one can give what he does not possess, and, therefore, before 
the young teacher can be shown how to teach, he must know 
the subject-matter that he is to teach. Hence there must 
be an academic foundation before attention is given to 
method. 

Although knowledge is admittedly first in importance 
in the equipment of the teacher, method also must be re- 
garded as essential. Roark says,* "To know well what is 
to be taught, is, of course, one prerequisite of teaching, but 
it is only one of them. The other two are a loiowledge of 

* "Method in Education," p. lo. 

lOO 



METHODS OF INSTRUCTION lOI 

mind and its laws of growth, and a knowledge of how to 
make subject-matter stimulate and nourish growth. An 
attempt to teach without this knowledge of mind would be 
much like an attempt to practice medicine with only a 
knowledge of the pharmacopoeia, and with none of anatomy 
and physiology. ... So while it is still true that teachers 
with good method, without full knowledge, will sometimes 
accomplish as much as the thorough scholar who lacks 
method, — and may even accomplish more, — yet the best 
teaching is done where sound and broad scholarship is 
joined to sympathetic knowledge of mind processes, and to 
skill in making mind hungry for the best nutriment.''^ 

The testimony of Pestalozzi is:^ "Only have a proper 
method, and you will be surprised at the amount children 
learn in a single day." Diesterweg remarks with emphasis, 
"The typical power of the teacher lies in his method;" 
again, some one has said, "The teacher himself is the best 
method." It has been asserted that method only touches 
the superficial, the external side of the child's life; and 
Karl Lange very pertinently asks, "Which of these is 
right?" and he answers, "Neither of them. For the edu- 
cating influence of the teacher depends not alone upon his 
method of instruction, but also upon the inner working 
power of his own ideal. Again, the teacher is not the 
method, but rather he has method. He is still a teacher 
even if he has no method, though indeed a poor one. He 
becomes a good teacher by means of method; it is an im- 
portant trait of his character, because the definition of a 
capable teacher's personality includes the idea of method. 
What follows? This, that the teacher's method and his 

' Rein: " Encyklopadisches Handbuch der Padagogik," Vol. V, p. 308. 



102 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

personality are closely bound together, and that it is a false 
notion to set these characteristics in opposition to each 
other. The one cannot be thought of without the other," 

According to Rosenkranz three things are presupposed 
in instruction, namely, the subject to be taught, the con- 
sciousness of the pupil, and the activity of the teacher. 
These interpenetrate each other and "constitute in actuality 
one whole." The subject must be suited to the age and 
capacity of the pupil. It must be presented in a logical 
manner, even though the child has not yet reached the 
distinctive period of reasoning. No teacher may offer as 
an excuse, "I did not present this topic in a logical manner 
because my pupils have not yet reached the logical epoch." 
Any topic will be better taught and better learned if 
presented in the order of sequence. Then, too, "The 
subject has a nature of its own which requires it to be 
studied in a certain definite order. Whatever modifica- 
tions are made in the subject to adapt it to the immature 
mind of the pupil, this essential nature of the subject must 
not be changed. ... It is clear enough that all subjects 
to be taught possess logical relations of dependence of one 
part on another, of the parts on the whole. There must be, 
therefore, a certain order of exposition of the subject: the 
dependent parts must be shown in their dependence, 
otherwise the subject will not be taught properly. We 
cannot teach the zones or parallels and meridians unless 
we have previously taught the spherical form of the earth. 

"]\Iuch change and adaptation will be made by the 
teacher in order to make the subject entertaining to his 
pupil and easy of access, but the logical order of dependence 
of one topic on another within arithmetic, geometry, nat- 



METHODS OF INSTRUCTION 103 

ural history, grammar, etc., cannot be changed; he must 
take it as it is, for that is the inteUigible order and must 
be followed. The words of the classic author must be 
translated as they stand, and not from the end backward, 
if we would find sense in them." ^ 

Method a Guide. — The teacher thus has a guide in the 
method of presenting his material to which he must adapt 
himself. In many non-essentials and devices, he may em- 
ploy his originality and exercise personal ingenuity. But 
he must conform to the natural order of development, and 
no personal enthusiasm or unique method can be a sub- 
stitute for that order. Then the child must be consciously 
present. No matter how well articulated and logical the 
method, no matter how interesting the teacher may be, 
there can be no instruction unless the child is consciously 
engaged in the matter. To reach the consciousness of the 
child, the material must be properly selected. Quoting 
again from Rosenkranz, "But the subject must be adapted 
to the consciousness of the pupil, and here the order of 
procedure and the exposition depend upon the stage which 
he has reached intellectually, for the special manner of 
instruction must be conditioned by this. If he is in the 
stage of sense-perception, we must use the illustrative 
method; if in the stage of image-conception, that of com- 
bination; and if in the stage of tliinking, that of demon- 
stration. The first exhibits the object directly, or some 
representation of it ; the second considers it according to the 
different possibilities which exist in it, and turns it around 

' Comment of Dr. Harris in Rosenkranz, "Philosophy of Education," 
p. 97. 



104 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

on all sides (and examines its relations to other things); 
the third demonstrates the necessity of the relations in 
which it stands either with itself or with others. This is 
the natural order from the standpoint of the developing 
intelligence: first, the object is presented to the perception; 
then combination with other things shows its relations and 
presents its different phases; and, finally, the thinking 
activity circumscribes the restlessly moving reflection by 
the idea of necessity." ^ 

No method that ignores the truths above set forth, can 
secure good results. Hence the necessity of a knowledge 
of the laws of mental development. In the early years of 
the child's life there must be a great deal of illustra- 
tive material employed. Indeed, illustrative material may 
never be wholly discarded. Even in the university where 
original investigation is pursued, some of the most impor- 
tant work is successfully carried out only by the employ- 
ment of concrete illustration, — as, for example, the clinic 
and the dissecting-room in the medical college, the labora- 
tory in all science work, and pictures and sculpture in the 
study of art and history. Illustration is also employed 
with excellent results by public speakers — preachers, 
orators, lecturers — in appealing to adult audiences. But 
with mature persons the use of illustration is incidental, 
while with young children it is the chief means of instruc- 
tion. 

Care in using Illustrations. — A caution, however, may 
be necessary at this point. Because objects are essential, 
many teachers employ them in such variety and number 

* "Philosophy of Education," p. 98. 



METHODS OF INSTRUCTION 105 

as to dissipate the attention rather than attract and fix 
it. For example, a teacher was endeavoring to teach a 
class the number six. She had marbles, beans, splints, 
blocks, and a variety of other objects. The pupils were 
interested in the objects, but not in the end sought, the 
learning of the number six. The lesson was therefore a 
failure. Another young lady at great pains constructed 
a beautiful house of pasteboard for an object-lesson, not 
in architecture, but in number. She had the pupils count 
the windows, the gables, the doors, but she failed to teach 
the number she had in mind because the attention of the 
class was diverted by the object itself. A single class of 
objects should be employed, sufficient to make the appeal 
to the senses, and all other objects should be excluded. 

Care should be taken in the choice of objects. For 
example, if oranges were chosen for the purpose of teaching 
number, the attention of the pupils would be diverted to the 
taste, smell, color, desire for possession, etc. Instead of con- 
centrating the attention upon the one idea to be taught, it 
is dissipated. Hence some simple objects, like blocks, 
should be selected, because they will not divide the atten- 
tion, and, at the same time, they furnish the necessary con- 
crete illustration. Every particle of attention diverted from 
the lesson in hand by external conditions is just so much 
loss in securing the end sought. Again, objects are em- 
ployed as a means to an end, and when they are no longer 
needed to secure that end, they should be abandoned. 
The rule should be, employ concrete illustration whenever 
necessary to enforce the truth even till adult life, but omit 
it when it is not needed. 



106 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

Personality of the Teacher a Factor in Method. — The 

third essential of method is the personality of the teacher. 
Rosenkranz thinks that the personality of the teacher creates 
an individual method. "For," he says, "however clearly 
the subject may be defined, however exactly the psycho- 
logical stage of the pupil may be regulated, the teacher 
cannot do away with his own individuality even in the 
most objective relations. This individuality must pene- 
trate the whole with its own exposition. . . . The teacher 
must place himself on the standpoint of the pupil, i.e., he 
must adapt himself; he must see that the abstract is made 
clear to him in the concrete, i.e., he must illustrate, he 
must fill up the gaps which will certainly appear, and 
which mar the thorough seizing of the subject, i.e., he 
must supply. In all these relations the pedagogical tact 
of the teacher may prove itself truly ingenious in varying 
the method according to the changefulness of the ever- 
varying needs, in contracting or expanding the extent, in 
omitting or accumulating examples, in stating or only in- 
dicating what is to be supplied. The true teacher is free 
from any superstitious belief in any one procedure as a 
sure specific which he follows always in a monotonous 
bondage. This freedom can only be enjoyed by him who 
is capable of the highest method. The teacher has arrived 
at the highest point of ability in teaching when he can make 
use of all means, from the loftiness of solemn seriousness, 
through smooth statement, to the play of jest — yes, even 
to the incentive of irony, and to humor." * 

For our purpose, method is twofold : it embraces (a) the 
order of procedure in selecting and arranging material, and 

' "Plulosophy of Education," p. 104. 



METHODS OF INSTRUCTION 107 

(6) the mode of systematic presentation of subject-matter, is 
instruction in the discovery, confirmation, and elucidation of 
truth. The order of procedure, the mode of presentation, 
and the manner of elucidation define the teacher's person- 
ality. The best method serves its purpose only through a 
capable person, who carries it out with zeal and spirit ; but 
a model teacher, on the other hand, without a well-consid- 
ered method of instruction, is inconceivable. Without gen- 
uine personality method is nothing but cold formality. It 
must be warmed by the enthusiasm and fire of the ardent 
personality of a living teacher. It is the means whereby 
the instructor speaks to the heart of the child. 

To reach the ideal character of teacher requires time, 
and that experience which comes only with years of careful 
study and conscientious work. Principles must be adopted, 
and these must be put to actual test. The training of the 
normal school is the very best means of preparing one to be 
a teacher, especially in the common school. The school 
must seek to instil into its pupils the true pedagogical 
spirit; and the more this is done, the better the true per- 
sonality of the teacher will be brought out, the surer will be 
the success. Educational theory must be so incorporated 
into the very flesh and blood of the teacher that he will 
exemplify that theory unconsciously though in a rational 
manner in every exercise and at all times. The teacher is 
free only when he is no longer obliged to measure every 
act by formulas, but is so imbued with the truth that the 
method of imparting it is no longer thought of. 

Self-Improvement Essential to Method. — The teacher 
must also continue his own scientific education, for even 



Io8 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

the richest will become poor who forever pays out and 
takes nothing in. " Who has ceased to improve himself, 
has ceased to improve others," says Diesterweg. While 
general culture must certainly come in for a large part of 
the teacher's improvement, the central idea of further 
culture should be professional. Not only by means of 
books, but also through association with talented educa- 
tors, will he gain inspiration for his work. He must not 
be ashamed to possess the peculiarities that characterize 
the teacher, though he should not cultivate offensive ped- 
antic manners. Too often this latter characteristic sub- 
jects him to ridicule if not contempt. It shows itself by 
certain mannerisms that contact with children in the school- 
room has a tendency to foster. There he is superior in 
knowledge and authority, and it is very easy to acquire the 
habit of exhibiting his pedantry even when he is out of 
school. But in the. school it is not necessary to assume 
these peculiar mannerisms, and the freer the teacher is from 
them the better will be his influence and his discipline. 

It is as important for the teacher to cultivate a self-con- 
trolled and a pleasing personality, both in and out of school, 
as it is that he should be master of the details of method. 
There are many things in the schoolroom that try the pa- 
tience, arouse anger, and awaken evil feelings. On the 
other hand, daily contact with young children, whose spirit 
is naturally joyous, and whose hearts overflow with love, 
ought to make the teacher generous, loving, sympathetic, 
and full of good cheer. In lifting others into a higher 
plane of living and opportunity, in implanting in them 
noble thoughts, in arousing better aspirations, and in in- 
citing them to higher ambitions, the teacher himself acquires 



METHODS OF INSTRUCTION 109 

nobler thoughts, aspirations, ambitions. It illustrates the 
divine truth, "With what measure ye mete, it shall be 
measured to you again." This is one of the teacher's 
richest rewards, and it, in a measure, compensates for 
inadequate salary and want of appreciation. In blessing 
others, he himself is blessed, and he finds that "It is 
more blessed to give than to receive." And this 
is true also in the teacher's intercourse with his people, 
to whom he may also be a blessing. One of the most 
important lessons that Booker T. Washington teaches 
his students at Tuskegee is that they are to go out not only 
to instruct the children, but also to teach the parents how 
to live better and to uplift the race. If the teacher pos- 
sesses the qualities and the spirit that have been pointed 
out as necessary to success in the schoolroom, it wall not 
be difficult for him to be interested in the community, and 
the same spirit that makes him beloved by his pupils will 
make him beloved and respected by his people. 

To return to the three elements that a method of instruc- 
tion must take into account, — the selection and mastery 
of the subject to he taught, the consciousness of the 
pupil, and the personality of the teacher, — it will be 
seen that the third element plays a most important part. 
If the teacher knows his subjects thoroughly, is earnest 
and impressive; if he understands his pupils and knows how 
to select and present suitable material ; if he is so fully 
master of method as not to be fettered by it, but to be 
set free by making it his instrument and his aid; if he pos- 
sesses the peculiar sympathy that attracts childhood and 
has the ability to enter into the thoughts and life of the 
child, — then his method is likely to be good and his in- 



no ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

struction successful. White remarks/ "A method is but 
an orderly mechanism; its efficiency depends on what the 
teacher puts into it, and a teacher can never put into a 
method what he does not possess. In the last analysis, 
the vital element in teaching is the teacher. He is the soul 
of his methods and measures. If he is weak, they will be 
weak; if he is potent, they will be potent." 

Different Methods. — Thus far we have discussed the 
general characteristics that determine method. It now re- 
mains to consider the individual methods and their em- 
ployment in the work of instruction. The teacher, even 
if possessed with the genius of teaching, or of the necessary 
personal characteristics, must, nevertheless, be familiar with 
different methods of instruction in order to apply the method 
that is suited to the particular subject that is presented, and to 
the individual child. It is clear that the child in the pri- 
mary classes will be reached by a different method from that 
employed with the student in college. Many subjects re- 
quire their own peculiar manner of approach; and it is 
also certain that there is a great difference in children, even 
of the same age, in their abihty to comprehend a lesson. 
Some can grasp it by one method, while to others it must 
be presented by another. If a traveler has the choice 
of several routes to a given destination, he will be more 
likely to secure the transportation that suits his time, 
his convenience, his purse, and his wishes, than if he has 
only one route at his disposal. Just so the teacher who 
is equipped with a variety of methods will be more likely 
to attain the best results than he could secure if limited to 
one. 

' "Elements of Pedagogy," p. 210. 



METHODS OF INSTRUCTION III 

Smith ^ very clearly points out that "there are four dis- 
tinct methods of teacliing, which can be understood only 
in the hght of a knowledge of the nature and the relation 
of individual concepts and general concepts. They are 
the analytic method, synthetic method, inductive method, 
and deductive method." He proceeds to define and illus- 
trate what he understands by each as follows : — 

Analytic Method. — " The analytic method of teaching 
is the method in which we set out with individuals or wholes, 
and proceed to a consideration of the parts of which they are 
composed. Starting with a flower, and proceeding to a 
study of its parts, calyx, corolla, stamens, pistil, etc., is an 
example of analytic teaching. As examples of the analytic 
method of procedure in other studies may be mentioned: 
taking a sentence in grammar and proceeding from that 
to a consideration of its parts, — subject, copula, predicate, 
modifiers, etc.; taking a problem in arithmetic and pro- 
ceeding to its solution by the method of independent an- 
alysis; taking a state or country in geography and proceed- 
ing to learn the several parts (the names, locations, and 
characteristics of the particular rivers, mountains, towns, 
etc.) of which it is composed. In an analytic method of 
teaching, we have given us the individuals or wholes which 
are simply the parts in their proper relation to each other, 
and we proceed to consider each of these parts as if it were 
then a separate thing." 

Synthetic Method. — " The synthetic method of teaching 
is the method in which we set out with the dissociated parts 

^ "Systematic Methodology," p. iii. This presentation is so lucid 
that I shall quote quite fully from it. The italicizing of the definitions is 
mine. 



112 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

of things and proceed to bring these parts into proper rela- 
tion to each other, so as to construct as a final product the 
individual. Having a pile of dissociated bones, studying 
the function of each, and then bringing them into such 
relation with one another as to produce finally the human 
skeleton, is an example of a synthetic method of teaching. 
Taking isolated words and building possible sentences with 
them is a synthetic procedure. 

" It should be noted that, in the analytic method, the 
parts are given their relation to each other, and, hence, 
the relations are clearly present to be discovered; the 
functions of the several parts as they affect one another are 
thus made manifest. In the synthetic method the parts are 
given out of their proper relation to each other, and it is 
assumed that they can be studied in such isolation, and 
that their several relations can be discovered in the process 
of bringing them together to construct the unit, or individual 
thing. It should also be noted that these two methods have 
to do only with the mental movement between single things 
and their parts; the idea of classification does not enter 
into cither of them." 

Inductive Method. — " The inductive method of teach- 
ing is the method in which we set out with individual 
things and by a comparative study of several individuals — 
noting likenesses and difjerences — develop general notions 
or generalizations ; or, we begin with generalizations of a 
given order and by their comparative study we arrive at 
still wider generalizations. Taking several observable 
portions of land, and, from a comparative study of these, 
deriving the notion and the definition of island, is an 



METHODS OF INSTRUCTION 1 13 

inductive procedure. Solving several problems in arith- 
metic by independent analysis, and then, by comparison 
of their processes, formulating a rule for the solution of 
such problems, is an inductive process. Generalizing 
definitions, rules, laws, and principles, from a comparative 
study of facts, is inductive. The very essence of induction 
is comparison of members of a class with a view to discover- 
ing similar elements." 

Deductive Method. — " The deductive method of teaching 
is the method in which we set out with generalizations {defi- 
nitions, rules, laws, or principles) and proceed to their appli- 
cation in individual cases. As example of the deductive 
method we may mention: committing rules in arithmetic, 
and then applying them to the solution of problems; study- 
ing the definitions of geography from a book, and then 
proceeding to find them illustrated in the land and water 
forms about the school; reading the generalizations about 
the human body, which are contained in the ordinary 
works on physiology, and then proceeding to examine our 
bodies in order to verify them; studying botany by first 
reading the book statements about plants, and following 
this by an examination of specimens of the plants pre- 
viously described; starting with the axioms of mathematics 
and proceeding by a demonstrative process to principles, 
rules, and the solution of problems. 

"A careful consideration of the above definitions and 
examples cited will enable the learner to understand that 
the terms induction and deduction apply only to those mental 
movements which involve a passage from generalizations, 



114 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

never to mental movements between individual tilings and 
their several parts." * 

Which of the methods explained should be employed in 
education? Doubtless all of them under varying circum- 
stances. In general, the practice employed and illus- 
trated in the recitation as set forth in the preceding 
chapter, should prevail. As outlined by careful thinkers, it 
is as follows: " (i) the apperception or assimilation of 
individual notions; (2) the transition from individual to 
general notions, whether the latter appear as definitions, 
rules, principles, or moral maxims; and (3) the application 
of these general truths to new concrete facts — the return 
from general notions to new individuals. " With young chil- 
dren the method to be employed should be either synthetic 
or analytic, chiefly the former, as these methods deal with 
single things and their parts, and do not require power of 
classification. With older persons, who are capable of 
understanding principles and laws, and who have the power 
of generalizing and classifying, either the inductive or the 
deductive method should be employed. It must not be 
forgotten, as has already been shown, that the personal 
peculiarities of both pupil and teacher, as well as the 
characteristics inherent in the subject itself, should be 
taken into account. Finally it may be repeated that the 
teacher must not be a slave to method, but should be so 
thoroughly master of the subject-matter, and so imbued 
with the spirit of teaching, that method becomes the uncon- 

^ These four methods are so often confused — synthetic with inductive, 
and analytic with deductive — that it has seemed wise to give the full pre- 
sentation of each method with the illustrative examples so clearly set forth 
by this author, without further explanation or comment. 



METHODS OF INSTRUCTION' II5 

scious instrument through which he presents the truth 
forcefully, logically, earnestly, and in the manner to leave 
deepest impressions. 



Summary 

I. With young children illustrative material must be em- 
ployed, not as an end in itself, hut as a means to an end. Too 
many objects may dissipate the attention and defeat the end 
in view. The rule should be, employ suitable illustration 
whenever it will aid in making the lesson clear, even with 
advanced students, but abandon it when no longer necessary. 

II. Method is the form in which the living content of 
the teacher's personality flows forth, the means through 
which that personality realizes its educative purpose. The 
three elements that method must take into account are the 
subject to be taught, the consciousness of the pupil, and the 
personality of the teacher. 



CHAPTER IX 

PLAY AS AN EDUCATIONAL FACTOR 

References. — Wiggin, Children's Rights; Harrisan, Study of 
the Child; Roark, Method in Education; Hughes, Mistakes in 
Teaching; Forhush, The Boy Problem; Bain, Education as a 
Science; Educational Review, Vol. VIII; Young Folks' Cycle pcedia, 
Vol. VIII; Ogden, Science of Education; Beale, Work and Play 
in Girls' Schools; Froebel, Education of Man; Griggs, Moral Edu- 
cation. 

A Natural Tendency of the Young. — There is a natural 
tendency in all young life to express itself in play. One 
sees this in the gambols of the young lamb, the friskiness 
of the puppy, the antics of the kitten, as well as in the cease- 
less activity of the child. The period of play is the 
period during which the being is coming to maturity, the 
period of education. Hence many educators have sought 
to utilize this activity in the education of the child. The 
Chinese have never had many toys, or made use of play 
in their educational system, and this partly accounts for 
its serious defects. On the other hand, the Greeks encour- 
aged play in their Olympian games and the preparation 
for them, and these great national meetings exerted a most 
important influence upon the character and the culture of 
the people. The toys of the Athenian child were greater 
in variety than those of any other people of antiquity. 
Their purpose, however, was to amuse the child rather 
than serve as a means of equipping for life's duties, as was 
the case in Sparta and Persia. 

1x6 



PLAY AS AN EDUCATIONAL FACTOR 117 

That play is a potent influence in stimulating a health- 
ful physical and intellectual growth is an educational 
truth that has been fully recognized only within recent 
years. And yet, the Athenians appreciated it in the home, 
and utilized it in their educational practice twenty-five 
centuries ago. In this they anticipated the kindergarten. 

Fenelon employed the principle of play in securing his 
remarkable success with the young Duke of Burgundy. 
Through this means this skilful teacher awoke interest in 
that intractable boy; and by means of liis " Dialogues and 
Fables," Fenelon's success with his pupil was so phenom- 
enal that the passionate and wilful prince became docile 
and obedient, a monument to the patience and wisdom of 
his teacher. 

But to Froebel is due the credit of utilizing play in a 
systematic manner in the education of the young. Inspired 
by Pestalozzi, concerning whose influence upon him he 
'said, "He set one's soul on fire for a higher and nobler 
life, though he had not made clear or sure the exact road 
toward it, or indicated the means whereby to attain it," 
Froebel began the study of "boys' play, the whole series of 
games in the open air, and learned to recognize their mighty 
power to awaken and strengthen the intelligence and the 
soul as well as the body." The outgrowth of this study 
was the kindergarten. 

The Kindergarten. — It is not the purpose here to dis- 
cuss the kindergarten plays or to consider their educational 
value. There are two dangers that one not fully acquainted 
with the philosophy of Froebel is likely to fall into. The 
first danger lies in the character, purpose, and employment 



Il8 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

of the plays themselves. Under the unskilled, improperly 
trained teacher the plays may be so ill-chosen or so badly 
managed as to become formal and mechanical in their 
use. Indeed, they cease to be plays because they lack the 
spontaneity, the freshness, the ingenuousness so apparent 
in real play. The example of the boy who returned 
home from his first day in the kindergarten, threw his 
schoolbagon the sofa, and indignantly exclaimed, "I'm not 
going there any more! I can't waste my time that way! " 
illustrates this point. He had been treated to "play" 
that was neither play nor instruction, and saw through the 
sham, as children are likely to do. The teacher must be 
very careful that the real essence of play, that is, spon- 
taneity, freedom, genuine joyousness, is retained, while 
she knows the definite end to be sought, and while she 
carries in her own mind the lesson to be taught. Such 
exercises must be to the children real play, or their value 
will soon be lost. When the children are too old or too 
far advanced to enter upon an exercise as pure play, the 
time has come to abandon such exercise as a means of 
education. 

The second danger is the other extreme, that of mere 
amusement, that of entertainment. While, as has been 
said, from the children's standpoint the plays must be 
spontaneous, from the teacher's standpoint they must have 
an aim. Froebel must have had this thought in mind 
when he said, "Play is the purest, most spiritual activity 
of man at this stage, at the same time, typical of human 
life as a whole — of the inner hidden natural life in man 
in all things. It gives, therefore, joy, freedom, content- 
ment, inner and outer rest, peace with the world. A child 



PLAY AS AN EDUCATIONAL FACTOR 1 19 

that plays thoroughly, with self-active determination, per- 
severingly, until physical fatigue forbids, will surely be a 
thorough, determined man, capable of self-sacrifice for the 
promotion of the welfare of himself and others." Thus 
Froebel saw a definite purpose in play, and in his whole 
scheme he sought to utilize this natural instinct in laying 
the foundations of education. The employment of aimless 
plays teaches the children to be restless, impatient of con- 
trol, fidgety, dependent upon entertainment, and incapaci- 
tates them to fix the attention. The training of the school 
should lead gradually to the power of concentrated work. 
The school prepares for life — an oft-repeated truism — or 
better still, as Colonel Parker puts it, it is life, and life is 
full of tasks that must be performed. This does not mean 
that childhood is to be repressed and its natural tendencies 
stifled, but its tendencies are to be utilized and guided 
rather than allowed to run riot. That is what the founder 
of the kindergarten meant, and that is what he taught. 
This danger under discussion is responsible, in part, at 
least, for so many children coming into the higher classes 
with no power of concentration, with so little disposition 
to self-exertion and self-application, and possessed of the 
notion that everything must be made superlatively easy. 

Mr. Howard J. Rogers summarizes the present tendency 
most admirably :^ "Beginning with the kindergarten and 
continuing into the elementary grades, we have run a little 
wild in the last decade or more in making things easy for 
the child. We have coaxed and coddled and bribed with 
sweetmeats till the child has a totally wrong impression 

* Address at the meeting of the National Educational Association in 
1905, on "Educational Progress of the Year." 



120 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

of his relativity to his environment. I yield to no one in 
acknowledging the great work done by the kindergarten, 
particularly in the crowded portions of our great cities, and 
in approving its purpose, but this does not mean approval 
of all its methods. They should not be extended too far 
into the child's life, and the elementary schools should 
begin to differentiate at once between work and play. A 
cliild has a weak, imperfect, illogical mind, or he would not 
be a child. To appeal to his reason and his interest is to 
premise your work on negative quantities. Prescribe what 
your reason and the experience of the race have proven 
good for him, and see that he does his tasks through love 
if possible, through compulsion if necessary. If a subject 
be thoroughly disciplinary and wholly distasteful, and 
a child does it, it is good for the child. And above all, let 
us see to it that we instill into the child by leading him to 
conquer difficulties, and to subordinate his desires to his 
obligations and his duty, a moral fiber which will carry 
him straight through fire and water to his goal in life; and 
let us not be responsible for turning into the world creatures 
of flexible backbone, who will pursue their sinuous way 
along lines of pleasure, interest, and the least resistance." 

This is not a criticism of the kindergarten idea, or of 
Froebel's teaching, or of the application of the principle 
of play in education. It is a warning against a misap- 
prehension and misapplication of the great Thiiringian's 
teachings. It is an appeal for the choice of suitable plays, 
those that call for spontaneous action on the part of the 
children, and yet are so directed and utilized by wise and 
intelligent teachers as to accomplish some definite aim. 
As planned and taught by its great founder, the kinder- 



PLAY AS AN' EDUCATIONAL FACTOR I2i 

garten is the most natural and the wisest scheme for the train- 
ing of young children yet devised by man. And its central 
idea is the utilizing of the instinct of play in the young. 

The Clothing of Children. — Before entering upon the 
discussion of what we mean by play and of what value it 
is, we may briefly consider the character of clothing. The 
proposition that the child should be so dressed as in no 
way to interfere with the perfect freedom of his body will 
need no discussion. This is essential for all of his activi- 
ties whether play or work. On this point Froebel says/ 
"In order to enable the child at this period to move and 
play, to develop and grow freely, his clothing should be 
free from lacing and pressure of all kinds; for such cloth- 
ing would oppress and fetter also the spirit of the child. 
The clothing of the child in this as well as in the next 
period, should not bind the body; for it will have on the 
mind, on the soul, of the child, the same effect it has on the 
body. Clothes, in form and color and cut, should never 
become an object in themselves, else they will soon direct 
the child's attention to his appearance instead of his real 
being, make him vain and frivolous — dollish — a puppet 
instead of a human being." These wise words have value 
for moral as well as for physical well-being. 

The Meaning of Play. — What do we mean by play ? 
How is play distinguished from work? It is necessary to 
determine clearly the difference between these two activi- 
ties to define them, in order to discover the educational 
value of play. Some would say that it is the element of 

^ "Education of Man," p. 63. 



122 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

pleasure that distinguishes play. This is not true, for 
many persons find pleasure in their work. "We go back 
to school to-morrow after a vacation of two weeks. I 
shall be glad, for I am always happiest when I am busiest," 
writes an enthusiastic teacher. Indeed, that one shall be 
fond of his work and take pleasure in it, is the first essen- 
tial of success. 

Play is easier than work, may be offered as the distinc- 
tion. But some plays are very hard, both physically and 
mentally. No one would say that foot-ball or chess is 
easy, and yet they stand for play. Indeed, there is scarcely 
any kind of work that calls for harder physical application 
than foot-ball, or more severe mental application than 
chess. It will not be urged that a game of base-ball is 
easier for a boy than to go on an errand. In fact, many 
boys love those games best that require greatest activ- 
ity, that offer supreme obstacles to be overcome. There 
is the greater triumph in winning. 

Again, it may be said that length or intensity of the 
activity is what decides the question. But some of the 
games above mentioned require the greatest intensity of 
thought and action, and yet they are play. Still again, 
it might be urged that the desire to win is the characteristic 
of play. In many occupations men are as eager to win 
and as jubilant over success as the most enthusiastic col- 
lege student over a base-ball victory. None of these distinc- 
tions clearly mark the difference between work and play. 

Definition of Play and Work. — We are now ready for a 
definition of play and work. Play is activity or effort that 
finds its end within itself, while work finds its end outside 



PLAY AS AN EDUCATIONAL FACTOR 123 

of itself. To illustrate: The amateur base- ball player 
reaches his aim in the activity itself, while the professional 
player has an end beyond the game, namely, the salary 
upon which he lives. Both may play with great skill, 
both may thoroughly enjoy the game, both may desire to 
win, but the latter has a purpose, an end, which is outside 
of and which follows the activity. Therefore the former 
engages in play, the latter in work. The same activity 
may be work or play according to the motive of it. The 
child drearily runs the scales in piano practice. He is at 
work because the end is in the future when he will be able 
to play with skill the same scales woven into wonderful 
harmonies to his own and his hearers' delight. The actor 
carries his part on the stage and finds pleasure for himself 
while he pleases his audience. To him it is work, because 
later his salary will be his reward. To his audience it is 
play. They have spent an hour in witnessing the pro- 
duction, and the end for which they came has been reached 
when the play is over. 

One may read a book for the enjoyment it affords. Let 
the same book be read in order to write a review of it or 
pass an examination, and the latter becomes work because 
the end was not reached in the reading, while the former 
was recreation or play. I may take a walk for the mere 
enjoyment of it. But if I walk to my place of business in 
order to perform the duty of bread- winning, the walk is 
work. Indeed, in some trades the mechanics do not reckon 
their time from the moment they enter upon their job, but 
from the time they are said to leave the shop. It is the 
motive that governs the activity, and not the activity 
itself, that distinguishes work from play. 



124 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

Purpose of Play. — Play strengthens all the powers of 
body and soul. "It is the telescope which lengthens life 
and extends its vision;" and the longer the spirit of play is 
retained in a man's life, the younger he remains, the brighter 
his spirit, the happier and more optimistic he is. Hence 
it should be encouraged in the form of holidays and recre- 
ation in the arrangement of life's plan in old as well as in 
young. Play teaches the child to be self-reliant, and that 
characteristic will best be brought out when the child has 
companions of about his own age in the home and in 
school. Through play he learns to measure his strength 
and skill with the strength and skill of others; he increases 
his powers, thereby acquiring greater agility and strength. 

Without the advantage of play with other children 
the child is likely to grow up puny in body, selfish in 
spirit, exacting, overbearing, and self-opinionated. Nothing 
teaches a boy so quickly and thoroughly the place he is 
capable of holding among his fellows as contact and asso- 
ciation with other boys in healthful, earnest, hearty, and 
suitable play. I used to watch a boy who had no one of 
his own age to play with during the earlier years of his life. 
He was an intolerant bully and a general nuisance to the 
whole neighborhood. When he went to school, however, 
and associated with other boys, he soon learned to know his 
place ; he found that the whole world did not revolve 
around him, and he became a fine boy. Play under right 
conditions was the civilizing and educating influence that 
taught him the most important lesson of life. 

Through play the child strengthens his muscles, acquires 
knowledge of distance, trains the judgment, learns much 
concerning nature's laws, and becomes acquainted with 



PLAY AS AN EDUCATIONAL FACTOR 12$ 

the moral principle embodied in the Golden Rule. Hence 
the teacher should watch over and direct the games of the 
playground, as truly as the lessons of the schoolroom, as 
an important educational means. Far more attention 
should be paid to this feature of education than is usual. 
Such games should be encouraged as will develop all the 
powers. There is no better game for boys than base-ball. 
Ideas of distance and accuracy of judgment are incul- 
cated by throwing the ball, by catching "flics" in the field, 
and by attempting to hit the thrown ball. Skill is acquired 
by the same means in throwing and judging the ball. 
Alertness is necessary in deciding where to throw the ball 
when fielded in order to put out the opponent, — the boy 
must act at once with decision and accuracy. Agility is 
cultivated in running bases, and in picking up the swiftly 
batted "grounder." Unselfishness is engendered and 
genuine practice of the Golden Rule by the necessary team 
spirit which seeks to win the game through concentrated 
action and not through individual effort. Every one 
must do his best in the position he occupies, wliile he 
works in concert with his mates. Nothing puts in jeopardy 
the game in which a whole team is involved, as base- ball, 
basket-ball, or foot-ball, so much as self-seeking or jeal- 
ousy on the part of individuals. Base-ball, then, may be 
made a most excellent educational means, teaching lessons 
that nothing in the schoolroom fosters, and it should be 
sustained by every school. 

Basket-ball serves a similar purpose at the time of the 
year when base-ball cannot be played. For quiet indoor 
games those should be selected that furnish sufficient incen- 
tive and interest in themselves, and rest upon no external in- 



126 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

centive. Any game that requires a money stake or a prize 
"just to make it interesting," should be discountenanced. 
If a game does not offer a healthful exercise of skill and judg- 
ment, a stimulating and lively interest to win for the sake of 
winning, it does not fulfil the conditions prescribed. 

Indeed, it is not play, it is work, for the end is outside of 
the activity, the end is to secure the prize or money at 
stake, and not the mere enjoyment of a pleasurable pastime. 
If a game is played for the pleasure found in it, it is play; if 
the same game is played for a stake, it is no longer play, 
it is gambling. For this reason professional gamblers do 
not select games like chess or checkers, which depend 
upon skill and knowledge, but they prefer dice which 
requires no skill and which is quickly decided, or some 
kinds of card games in which the element of chance plays 
a large part. No one, on the other hand, would long 
play dice for amusement. It requires an outside stimulus 
to keep up the interest, and therefore should be discouraged, 
as well as all other games that fail in themselves to furnish 
the necessary interest. This will be a sufficient guide for 
parents and teachers in determining what games should be 
allowed. 

Cricket serves the same purpose with English boys that 
base-ball does with ours. Concerning this game, Mr. 
Hughes says,^ "The discipline and self-reliance on one 
another which it teaches is so valuable, I think, it ought to 
be such an unselfish game. It merges the individual in the 
eleven; he doesn't play that he may win, but that his side 
may." 

Teachers will have to meet the question of marble-play- 

^ "School Days at Rugby," p. 381. 



PLAY AS AN EDUCATIONAL FACTOR 1 27 

ing among boys. This game is harmless if merely a trial 
of skill. It may be very harmful if the children are allowed 
to play "for keeps," which is a species of gambling. With 
most children one merely needs to call attention to the 
evil, and explain its moral bearing. A most conscientious 
Christian gentleman was passing some boys who w^re 
playing marbles on the street. Although he was upw\irds 
of sixty years of age, the old spirit of his boyhood came 
over him, and he asked the boys to be allowed to come into 
the game. He borrowed a marble from one of the boys 
with which he won another, and then paid back his debt. 
He had not lost his skill, and soon he had won all the marbles 
the boys possessed. And he put those marbles into his 
pocket and carried them home for his grandson! It never 
occurred to liim that he had been gambling, and a suggestion 
of that kind would have thoroughly shocked him. Boys 
should be taught the nature of such a game, and shown that 
it is evil. They should also be taught that the intrinsic 
value of the thing played for does not change the principle. 

Teachers' Part in Games. — The teacher may exert a 
most positive and beneficent influence by encouraging and 
directing the right kind of games. This must be done 
with discretion so that the children will not feel that he is 
dictating their sports and hindering a free exercise of their 
natural right to play. It is certain that a feature of educa- 
tion that cannot be fostered in the schoolroom can be 
secured on the playground; and if the teacher possesses the 
ability to mingle freely with his pupils in their recreation, 
taking part with them at times, preventing harmful games 
and encouraging good ones, he wdll be able to do great 



128 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

good to his pupils. Besides, he will discover character- 
istics that will aid him in discipline, and he will gain an 
influence over his pupils which cannot be gained otherwise. 
For in the hour of play the child manifests his true self. 
It often occurs that the pupil who is intractable and indo- 
lent in the schoolroom is the leader in sports. The watch- 
ful teacher may be able to discover by observing such 
pupils at play a means to interest them in their work. 

The child should be taught early in life, to respect the 
property rights of others; he should also be made to feel 
that no luck or skill of his can justify his appropriating 
the property that he may win from another. The teacher 
should encourage the sports that develop agility, strength, 
alertness, judgment, and accuracy. The educational value 
of the Olympian games lay in the nature of the games 
themselves, as well as in the spirit of fairness that was 
cultivated. Running, jumping, throwing the discus, wrest- 
ling, trials of strength and endurance, constituted the 
earlier Grecian games, and they produced a magnificent 
type of manhood. The only material reward was a v/reath 
of laurel placed upon the victor's brow, and it was enough. 
It was the insignia of honors that endured while life lasted. 
And the same effect would follow a like practice at the 
present time. Some boys, connected with the late Profes- 
sor Stoy's school at Jena, were holding their annual gym- 
nastic contests. On a branch of a neighboring tree were 
hung several laurel wreaths, the only prizes for which they 
were striving. There was no evidence of lack of interest 
because the prizes carried no intrinsic value. Indeed, 
every boy did liis best; and when the contest was over the 
victors were called forward and crowned with impressive 



PLAY AS AN EDUCATIONAL FACTOR 129 

ceremony, after the manner of the Greeks of olden time. 
Here a lesson in simplicity was inculcated; and through 
those games, and the simple rewards that followed, the 
most important lesson that play teaches was illustrated, 
namely, to find the interest in the activity itself and not in 
any external reward. The laurel wreath sufficiently dis- 
tinguished the victor, but did not serve as pay for his 
success. Hence it was play and not work. 

Play vs. Work. — While the early years of the child are 
devoted to play, and, as we have shown, this natural in- 
stinct should be employed for educational purposes, he 
must be gradually led to know that life has earnest pur- 
poses that can be satisfied only with work. It is not neces- 
sary that he gain the idea that work, which is the antithesis 
of play, is uninteresting or unpleasant. On the contrary, it 
should be shown to the child that work at the proper time and 
of the right kind to meet his stage of development may be 
extremely interesting. Professor Withers says,* "Work 
need never be irrational servitude, and the highest forms 
of work admit of the greatest amount of self-expression, 
and, therefore, of true freedom, relieved from 'the weight 
of chance desires.' Thanks, in a great measure, to 
Froebel, the whole world is coming to see that the work of 
the little child must be delicately adapted to its stage of 
growth, and must give full scope to its budding instincts, 
its love of muscular development, of variety, of construc- 
tiveness, of living animals, and plants, of pictures, and of 
cheerful sights and sounds. There is no reason why this 
should impair the seriousness and mental concentration 

* Address before the Froebel Society of Great Britain. 



130 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

which work ought always to imply. On the contrary, the 
'strangle- hold' is far easier to get upon some subject which, 
to begin with, appeals to the child nature. So frail and 
wavering is the little child's power of continuous attention 
that we need not be afraid that we can ever make work 
' too interesting,' if it be genuine work, i.e., energy devoted 
to a definite object." 

All education is self-activity, and play is the very best 
means by which the child expresses himself, satisfies the 
longing which every healthy child has to do something, 
and gives vent to the animal spirit within him which is 
likely to break out in some form of mischief unless properly 
directed. Professor Withers further adds, "It is of great 
importance, therefore, to bear in mind that, when we speak 
of play at the kindergarten stage, we are not thinking of 
play in antithesis to work, hut rather of play as the most 
convenient name for the sum-total of self-activity in the 
child. This self-activity resembles play, in that it is pur- 
sued for its own sake and as the expression of inner impulse; 
but it resembles work in so far as it is quite earnestly carried 
on, and is the most strenuous form of action of which the 
child is, at that stage, capable. 

"When once the antithesis has arisen, and the child's 
eyes are opened to know good and evil, then the child must 
be accustomed from time to time, in gradually lengthening 
periods, to attack the task with entire attention, and not 
take its mind off until that task has been completed." 

Play does not cease with Childhood. — It may be well 

to state that the educative value of play does not cease 
with childhood, though at this period it is of greatest im- 



PLAY AS AN EDUCATIONAL FACTOR 131 

portance. If it is "the great telescope which lengthens 
life and extends its vision," it may well be utilized even 
till old age. It may be called "recreation," but it is the 
same principle. Its purpose will be less to stimulate 
growth, and it need not be so constant or occupy so large 
a proportion of one's time, — the healthy adult should work 
a large part of the time, — but it is needed for rest, for 
change, for reviving the spirit, for the renewing of youth. 
Hence a reasonable amount of recreation, particularly out 
of doors with clean games, in society, with books intended 
to amuse or entertain, is absolutely essential to all. The 
devoting of a part of the time to holidays and half- holidays, 
in which the people give themselves up to wholesome out- 
of-door life and sport, not only conduces to health and 
longevity, but also brightens life, adds to its happiness, 
and fits for its more serious duties. Every life will be better 
if some time is devoted to recreation, in which there is 
utter freedom from the cares of business or household, 
and in wliich the individual yields himself up pure enjoy- 
ment. When he again engages in work it will be per- 
formed with greater zest, and life will be made brighter 
and better because of the interruption. Recreation gives 
new courage to the spirit and recuperates the body. 

Playthings. — Closely allied to play itself arc the imple- 
ments employed in it, or playthings. They, too, have their 
educational lesson. Professor Paulsen says, "It may 
safely be stated that the real value of a playtliing is gener- 
ally in inverse ratio to its cost." It is not the expensive 
toy that pleases the child most by any means. The elegant 
china doll that costs several dollars does not please the baby 



132 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

as much as the rag-baby that costs nothing, or the stuffed 
cat or rabbit that costs only a few cents. The child loves 
the plaything that it can handle and do with as it pleases. 
Therefore it is foolish to spend large sums for the toys of 
young children. A father purchased for his three-year- 
old son a beautiful music box costing twenty-five dollars. 
When the child was placed by the music box he would 
turn the crank and produce music. One day he discovered 
a nail- hole in the casing of the door, and he stuck the crank 
into the hole and turned it with as much glee as when it 
was inserted in the music box. The fact is, the only part 
of the plaything that interested him was the crank, which 
could have been bought for a cent. Doubtless at a later 
period he might have appreciated the costly music box, 
but at that time it was a total misfit. 

The nurseries of many American homes are crowded 
with toys, and the greatest evil is not the expense. Chil- 
dren should learn to be unselfish, full of gratitude to 
those who sacrifice for their happiness, and satisfied with 
few things. There is nothing more beautiful in children 
than genuine simplicity, which is perfectly natural with 
them and should not be destroyed. Such lavishness in 
gifts teaches children to expect everything they see, it 
makes spendthrifts of them, and does not inculcate the 
lesson of economy. The country boy is not accustomed 
to many playthings. Many of them he must make for 
himself. If he must get boards and saw out the runners 
and other parts of his sled, if he must nail them together, and 
fit some iron hoops that he has taken from an old barrel 
upon the runners for shoes, he has an appreciation of the 
result far greater than the boy whose father purchases him 



PLAY AS AN EDUCATIONAL FACTOR 133 

a beautiful " Greyhound." He certainly gets just as much 
fun out of it, and is far better off from having constructed 
it himself. 

"But what has this to do with the teacher and the 
school?" may be asked. It must not be forgotten that 
the whole duty of education is not committed to the school. 
The home has its part to perform, and it should learn the 
lesson herein taught. But the school also has something 
to do with this question, for the "Schoolmaster is the high- 
priest of the future." The school, more than any other 
factor, is shaping the future, is laying the foundations of 
future civilization, is forming the ideals that are to govern 
the world. Hence the school should raise its voice for sim- 
plicity, for economy, for unselfishness, for gratitude, thank- 
fulness, and sincere appreciation ; and in teaching simplicity 
in the instruments of play, it is inculcating some of the very 
fundamentals of morality and forming right ideals. 

Play and playthings, therefore, are most important edu- 
cational agencies, wliich should be employed for the phys- 
ical, intellectual, and moral development of the child. And 
there are no other agencies that can wholly take their place 
in this great work. 

Summary 

I. Play is activity or effort that finds its end within itself; 
work finds its end outside of itself Play should be utilized 
in developing certain educational features that cannot be 
taught in the regular school exercises, while it fortifies other 
lessons that can be taught in the school. Recreation is 
essential to the well-being of adults as well as children. Play- 
things should be few in number and inexpensive. 



134 ELEMMNTARY PEDAGOGY 

II. The object of play in connection with education is to 
utilize fhe natural activity of the child so as gradually to 
lead him to the power of concentration and self-direction as 
exemplified in work. The interest of play must be found in 
the activity itself rather than i?i something external. Such 
plays should be encouraged as develop strength, agility, 
alertness, judgment, decision, accuracy, generosity, unself- 
ishness, and the spirit of fairness. 



CHAPTER X 

HABITS AND THEIR FORMATION 

References. — • White, School Management; MacCunn, The 
Making of Character; Coler, Character Building; Smith, System- 
atic Methodology; Patrick, Elements of Pedagogics; MacVicar, 
Principles of Education; Spencer, Education; Shearer, Morals and 
Manners; Adler, The Moral Instruction of Children. 

Habits and their Formation. — The character of a per- 
son is shown by the fixed habits he possesses. If the 
habits are good, the character is good ; if the habits are bad, 
the character is bad. Most of the activities of Hfe are con- 
trolled by habit, and he that is established in his habits is 
good or bad according to the nature of those habits. The 
individual may be relied upon just in proportion to the 
fixedness of his habits. Is he habitually punctual, truth- 
ful, honest, polite, men who have dealings with him recog- 
nize these qualities and are able to depend upon him. 
Hence the importance of definite, consistent, well-directed, 
and persistent effort on the part of the educator in training 
the child to possess good habits. Every function of the 
school — the thoroughness with which the lessons are 
taught, the steady and wise carrying out of disciplinary 
measures, the leading into good conduct, the whole relation- 
ship between teacher and pupil — should aim to form and 
establish good habits. 

Rosenkranz says,^ "Education seeks to transform every 
particular condition so that it shall no longer seem strange 

* "Philosophy of Education," p. 30. 
135 



136 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

to the mind or in any wise foreign to its nature. This 
identity of the feeling of self with the special character of 
anything done or endeavored by it, we call habit (Gewohn- 
heit — customary activity, habitual conduct, or behavior. 
Character is a 'bundle of habits'). It conditions formally 
all progress; for that which is not yet become a habit, but 
which we perform with design and an exercise of our 
will, is not yet a part of ourselves," 

What is Habit? — Habit may be defined as the tendency 
to repeat the same act in the same way without conscious 
reflection. The most of the acts of life are controlled by 
habit. This is true in our physical, intellectual, moral, 
and spiritual activities, as a moment's reflection will show. 

I. Physical Habits. — We learn to stand upright, to 
place one foot before the other, to walk as a matter of habit. 
Any change in gait, as when one is trained to march as a 
soldier, or when one walks on the deck of a rolling ship, 
or when one attempts to keep step with another who takes 
unusual strides — long or short — occasions discomfort 
until one becomes accustomed to the change, forms a new 
habit. The steps of a staircase are usually constructed 
about eight inches in height, and we ascend and descend 
with comfort; but let the height be changed and we stumble 
and are more easily wearied. An illustration of the effect 
of peculiar stairs is found in ascending the leaning tower 
of Pisa. As one circles the upper side of the tower, one 
passes from stair to stair without really ascending, while 
on the lower side the ascent becomes the more pronounced 
owing to the peculiar situation created by the leaning of the 
structure. The stairs were all made originally of the 



HABITS AND THEIR FORMATION 137 

same height, but the settHng of the tower on one side caused 
the curious effect described. 

Eating also becomes a physical habit. The carrying of 
the food to the mouth, the use of table implements, the 
following of stated times for meals are habits. One of 
the most important lessons that mothers must teach their 
children is to expect their food at regular periods. When 
the time comes for the meal we are inconvenienced if there 
is delay, not so much because we are in need of food as 
because the regular habit is being infringed upon. Chil- 
dren are also trained to regularity in sleep, and the adult 
becomes accustomed to rise at a certain hour. If the 
necessities of his vocation demand, a man can acquire the 
habit of awakening at any hour of the night or day without 
much inconvenience. 

Very much of the comfort and happiness, as well as the 
usefulness of life, depends upon the possession of right 
physical habits, and it is certain that good health is largely 
dependent upon them. A good example of the acquirement 
of physical habits and their effect upon character, is found 
in the soldier. A new recruit enters the army, crooked and 
bent from the hardship of farm or shop life. He is drilled 
in all the details of walking, carrying the body firm and 
erect, handling his gun, keeping his clothing and accou- 
trements in perfect order, and in all the requirements ol 
military duty. He is closely inspected and punished foi 
infractions of rules in all of these respects. He is trained 
to march and perform the various military evolutions a1 
sharp word of command, and he may not choose what he 
will do, but must obey promptly and implicitly. What is 
the result of this training? Good physical habits art 



138 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

formed, and the slouching, uncouth, awkward recruit 
learns to carry himself like a gentleman. The effect upon 
his moral life is also marked, for in learning control of his 
body he gains in that self-respect which is essential to 
moral living. It is the acquirement of right habits that 
has wrought the transformation, and he has received the 
kind of training that was needed in his educational develop- 
ment. 

2. Intellectual Habits. — Keenness of observation, accu- 
racy of comprehension followed by the power of accurate 
statement, vividness and richness of imagination, logical 
order in thinking, may become habit. Indeed, the pur- 
pose of intellectual training is to secure these habits. The 
child learns to read, to pronounce distinctly, to enunciate 
sounds and syllables, to give proper inflections and modu- 
lations, to grasp meanings as a matter of habit. He cannot 
become a good reader until these things are habitual. 
Just so in writing, the child becomes so habituated to the 
forming of letters and words that he no longer thinks of 
the pen, ink, and paper, he writes unconsciously, that is, 
from habit. The skilled accountant runs up the long 
columns of figures without a thought of them, and the 
child must be drilled in arithmetical work until the relations 
of numbers become so familiar to him that he does not 
have to stop and think them out. Certainly not, so far as 
the simpler combinations are concerned. The study of 
history has but little value if it does not train to habits of 
research, of weighing events to determine their importance 
in the development of civilization, and of noting the effects of 
the deeds of men and of events in shaping human destiny. 
And literature fails of its purpose if it does not create a 



HABITS AND THEIR FORMATION 139 

taste and establish a love for the good and pure things that 
men have written. The purpose of each and every study 
in the curriculum, from nature study in the primary class 
to higher mathematics, language, literature, history, and 
science in the most advanced university work, is to estab- 
lish correct intellectual habits. 

Even memory, so often neglected in modern methods 
of instruction and school requirements, should be trained 
so that committing accurately poems, texts, and formulas 
may become easy because memorizing has become a fixed 
habit. 

3. Moral Habits. — It is surely the business of the 
school to inculcate those moral habits in the pupils which 
are so essential to well-ordered and successful life. Pro- 
vided moral balance has not been established, the indi^id- 
ual not only fails to attain an ideal education, but he also 
becomes positively dangerous to society, the more danger- 
ous because of the keenness of intellect which makes him 
the more acute in wrong-doing and escaping punish- 
ment. Proper intellectual culture is also moral culture, 
for the marvel of beauty, symmetry, and perfection of 
God's handiwork as revealed in nature study, the exact- 
ness of mathematics and science, the unfolding of the 
facts of liistory, and the study of pure literature, cannot 
fail to exert a wonderful moral influence upon the child, 
if the teacher is alive to his opportunity. So, too, the very 
thoroughness required in study, and the perseverance 
demanded of the pupil in mastering tasks, must have a 
moral bearing. 

But there are abundant opportunities for instilling moral 
ideas and establishing moral habits in the daily routine 



I40 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

of school duties, and in the exercise of discipline. Punctu- 
ality and regularity of attendance, neatness in schoolwork, 
tidiness of person, promptness in obedience and in the 
discharge of duty, faithfulness in meeting school require- 
ments, honesty in the attitude towards tasks imposed, 
such as, examinations, tests, daily work, etc., consideration 
for the rights of others, both in the schoolroom and on the 
playground, regard for public property, and respect for 
law, are among the many moral lessons that the school 
should teach. In many homes there is neither the ability 
nor the inclination to teach these important lessons; there- 
fore not only a great responsibility, but also a boundless 
opportunity, is afforded the school to train children into 
abiding and well-ordered moral habits. 

" Sow a thought and reap a deed, 
Sow a deed and reap a habit, 
Sow a habit and reap character, 
Sow character and reap destiny." 

4. Religious Habits. — There are certain habits that 
may be classed as religious, such as, regular church attend- 
ance, reading the scriptures, stated hours of devotion, 
reflection upon spiritual themes, and a recognition of 
God's providences and acts of mercy. The mother who 
teaches her young child to kneel at his bedside and repeat 
a little prayer each night before he goes to sleep is forming 
a habit that is likely to influence his whole life. He may 
not understand the meaning of the words he utters, or 
comprehend why he does it, but it is of untold importance 
in that it early teaches him to love and obey God, in whom 
he lives, moves, and has his being. Such a habit, early 



BABITS AND THEIR FORMATION 141 

formed, often clings to a person all his life, and proves a 
restraint as well as a blessing. It often lays the founda- 
tion for the consecration of self when the maturer years of 
understanding are reached. 

Requiring children to attend upon and participate in 
the ordinances of the church, forms a religious habit that 
they are not likely to break away from in later life. Such 
habits also act as safeguards in the hour of temptation; 
indeed, they will save from many temptations. Reading 
from God's Word and reflection upon it may become so 
much a habit as not only to influence the thought, but also 
to mold the life of the individual. The old-time practice 
of daily taking down the family Bible, reading a chapter 
therefrom, and kneeling in prayer, — parents, children, and 
the whole household, bowing in humble devotion while the 
father lifted a petition to the eternal throne, — was an edu- 
cational means for which no substitute has been found, and 
the effects of which are not lost during a whole lifetime. 
Through this means, through the Sunday school, through 
church attendance, through committing texts of scripture, 
and through the contemplation of God's goodness, habits 
of thought are formed that are likely to influence the des- 
tiny of the child so trained, and to lead him to a life of 
benevolence and usefulness. 

The whole child must be educated ; and therefore, while 
we establish his physical, intellectual, and moral habits, 
we must also find means somehow and somewhere to 
complete the ideal of perfect manhood and train the reli- 
gious side also- Upon this last point we shall enter into 
further discussion in another chapter. 



142 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

Choice of Habits. — Thus far we have considered habits 
whose formation is largely under the direction of another 
person, — a parent or a teacher. If this work has been 
well done in early life, it is likely that permanent good 
habits will be chosen in later life. But there comes a 
period of definite personal choice, when the individual 
must decide for himself whether he will form this habit 
and reject that. The boy sees his father and other men 
using tobacco, and decides that he will learn to use it. 
He doubtless tliinks it manly, and this is the motive that 
influences him, for certainly it is not pleasant for him in 
the beginning. Quite early in life, before he has contracted 
the habit, he should be taught the evil effect of tobacco upon 
a growing boy, first upon his physical being, and later, as 
an inevitable consequence, upon his moral nature. Care- 
ful and exhaustive studies show that the tobacco habit with 
boys not only destroys their physical health and their 
intellectual power, but also their moral sensibilities. It is 
folly to tell him that the use of tobacco in itself is wicked, 
for it is not true. Moreover, his father, perhaps, and many 
good men whom he loves and respects, who have his confi- 
dence, and who, he believes, would not willingly do wrong, 
use it. Why should he not follow their example ? For the 
simple reason that it would surely harm him, and does 
not harm them. There are many things that a man may 
do that a child may not do, and the sooner this lesson is 
impressed upon the child the better. The father may sit 
up late nights, belong to a club, engage in many enter- 
prises that are perfectly proper, but would not be proper 
for his son until he too is a man. This does not mean that 
the parent may be indifferent as to his example before his 



HABITS AND THEIR FORMATION 143 

children. Far from it; but it simply means that a practice 
of the parent, which in itself is not wrong, may not be in- 
dulged in by the child if harmful to him, on the ground 
that his p^.rent indulges in it. 

A perfectly frank and clear explanation of this distinc- 
tion should be made by the father to his son. A German 
father, a minister of the gospel, called his seventeen-year- 
old son to him one day, and said, "Fritz, I hear that you 
are beginning to smoke. Is it true?" "Yes," responded 
the son. "Now, my boy," continued the father, "you 
are still too young to acquire the habit of smoking. You 
have not yet attained your growth, and I want you to wait 
two or three years longer. It will be harmful to you now." 
"Very well, father," replied the boy, and that was the end 
of his smoking at that time. The father did not think it 
necessary to apologize for using tobacco himself, or hold 
himself up as a warning or example of the evil of tobacco; 
for he was an inveterate smoker; it did not occur to either 
that the boy had a right to do a thing because the man did 
it. The use of tobacco per se was not condemned, it was 
simply shown to be bad for a growing boy. That confi- 
dence between father and son should exist which will 
enable the former to advise frankly, and the latter to accept 
such advice without stopping to question its wisdom. 

The child should be shown the right and wrong of an 
act, and then be encouraged to choose for himself, especially 
as he approaches maturity. The father cannot always be 
with the son, and therefore he must be trained to make 
proper choice. Dr. McClure touches upon this point very 
forcibly in speaking of the life of Joshua under the text, 
"Choose ye this day whom ye will serve." He says,^ "As 

* "The Voluntary Adoption of Good Habits." 



144 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

Joshua became aware of his approaching death, there 
appears to have come to him the reahzation of a new idea. 
It was this, that it mattered not how good the habits of the 
people then were, the permanent value of those habits, for 
themselves and their children, largely lay in their conscious 
and voluntary adoption of those habits, if possible, through 
some form alact. He seems to have become convinced 
that unless he could bring the people to face the moral 
issues involved in their good habits and then persuade 
them to adopt anew, or adopt for the first time, by a dis- 
tinct act of choice, those good habits would not be a very 
portion of their being, and consequently would not have a 
lasting control over them. To Joshua the supreme benefit 
of a good moral habit was in its intelligent adoption by the 
person for himself. Physical habits formed unconsciously 
have little, if any, tendency to change: the person who is 
left-handed, or the person who is right-handed, need have 
no anxiety about a change in the habit of using his hand. 
The left-handed man will continue to be left-handed whether 
he continues to reside in his birthplace, or moves into an 
entirely different environment; the right-handed man will 
be right-handed at forty years of age as well as at twenty. 
Physical habits once practiced for a considerable time are 
not subject to unconscious change. 

" But moral habits are subject to change. If those moral 
habits are superficial, touching only the outward features 
of our lives, they may be put off as easily as we put off 
a garment when we come into a different atmosphere. They 
may even slide off, as a cloak slides off when the air gradu- 
ally becomes warmer and the cloak becomes loosened little 
by little. Superficial moral habits sometimes glide away 



HABITS AND THEIR FORMATION 145 

from a man or youth almost before he is aware that they 
are gone — and only some new experience, or forced con- 
trast of his present with past conduct, makes him aware that 
his habits have left him. 

"Moral habits to be permanent must be a part of one's 
inner self. They must be a man's very being, so that they 
go with him where he goes, and stay with him where he 
stays. This can only be through a voluntary adoption of 
such habits; the intelligence must consider them and be- 
lieve in their value, and then the will must engage to do 
them. Thus they become inworked into the interior life. 
When this is done they are no longer like a cloak, they are 
rather like our life-blood, an abiding and constituent ele- 
ment of our being." 

Further he adds, "Yes, good habits are a benefit. They 
are always to be taught as such. Blessed is the child who 
has had them about him from infancy up; they put him in 
a safe atmosphere, and hold him back from many injurious 
surroundings. But a human life is not like a twig or a 
stream. Bend the twig, and the tree grows as an exterior 
force has determined. Start the stream from the summit of 
the Rocky Mountains toward the Atlantic or toward the 
Pacific, and you may be sure what the trend of its whole 
course will be. But it is not so with human life. 'Choice' 
comes in — a factor that neither twig nor stream can know. 
Solomon may be wtII trained in boyhood, and still go to 
pieces in maturity. Africaner may be hurtfully trained 
in boyhood, and still reach a splendid character in matu- 
rity. And all because of this wonderful power that we 
name 'the power of the will,' whereby we choose and deter- 
mine whether the old habits shall hold us." 



146 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

It is not enough that the child shall be trained to good 
habits. This is external. He must be brought "to a 
personal adoption of good habits by a clear, decisive, ever- 
lasting choice of his own; and the child must realize 
that beyond all he has ever heard concerning the benefit 
of temperance, integrity, self-control, he is called upon 
to choose for himself what his habits of life shall be with 
reference to these virtues. 

"Here there are two elements: one the necessity for in- 
formation, and the other the necessity for choice. Joshua 
made the people see what was involved in choice — a clear- 
cut separation of themselves from hurtful things ; and then 
he said, 'Choose, choose, choose,' and when a choice has 
been made to record it in some open pledge that the world 
may know the stand taken, and that the individual himself 
may feel that a final decision has been made and duly 
recorded." 

There must be first instruction as to the nature of the 
habit to be formed, its meaning and consequences, and 
then the child should be led to form it of his own free choice. 
And this instruction and this choice should be brought 
about early in life before evil habits are yet in possession 
and while the child is yet plastic and easily molded. 

It has been said that "Habits are built into the reflex 
nervous system by the will; but we have to rid ourselves 
of many habits; this, too, is the work of the will; but it is 
harder to unlearn than to learn a habit, for the will has to 
contend with the inherent tendency to repeat what it has 
once done. Here is seen the value of education; the edu- 
cated man can see reasons for unlearning a bad habit, or 
acquiring a new one, — reasons that may powerfully influ- 



HABITS AND THEIR FORMATION I47 

ence his will. Life consists in action; to live aright we 
must have good habits, for habits direct our acts. Teachers 
well know they can do much more for the pupil who has 
good habits; that is, good home training to start with. A 
vast number are under bondage to habit, few are free men. 
. . . Some lie simply from habit; many are truthful from 
habit ; as we are what we are more from training than from 
education, the wise teacher is always training into good 
habits or training out bad ones; he who simply presents a 
fact is a poor teacher." 

The Changing of Habits. — In order successfully to 
eradicate a bad habit it must be supplanted by a good one. 
Thus the habit of laziness is changed to one of diligence by 
introducing those activities that interest the child; that of 
lying to the habit of truthfulness by showing the beauty of 
truth and the sin of lying, and following this by encourag- 
ing the telling of truth; that of slovenliness to that of neat- 
ness and cleanliness by furnishing examples of cleanly 
children and extolling the merit of cleanly habits; tardi- 
ness and irregularity are to be supplanted by punctuality 
and regularity, by showing the evil to the individual, as 
well as the interference with the rights of others as the 
result of these evils, and by making these virtues an essen- 
tial requirement of school life; the habit of generosity and 
thoughtfulness for others in place of selfishness through 
exhibiting the blessedness and joy of service, and of giving 
without expectation of recompense. And so all the vices 
should be supplanted by corresponding virtues, and in this 
way riglit habits may be established and wrong ones eradi- 
cated. 



148 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

Every child is strongly influenced in his habits by his 
comrades and his environment. When it becomes clear 
that a child is not amenable to the influences that form 
good habits and good character, that he is a danger to 
others, he must be removed from contact with them, else 
he may be instrumental in establishing evil habits in those 
who are innocent. Smith remarks, "A habit is established 
by repeatedly performing an act, and it is destroyed by 
refraining from the performance of the act. In no other 
way can a habit be established, and in no other way can 
a habit that has been formed be removed." It may 
be added that great assistance is rendered to one who 
is endeavoring to rid himself of evil habits by leading him 
to abandon the associations that foster those habits, and 
by substituting other associations that foster opposite 
habits. Thus the inebriate must abandon the saloon and 
the company of other inebriates and seek the influence of 
the temperance society and the church, and of sober people. 
There is little hope of permanent reform unless the bad 
habits are supplanted by corresponding good ones. 

In the early part of this chapter the general kinds of 
habits — physical, intellectual, moral, and spiritual — were 
treated. " Education deals altogether with the formation 
of habits. For it aims to make some condition or form of 
activity into a second nature for the pupil. But this in- 
volves, also, the breaking up of previous habits. This 
power to break up habits, as well as to form them, is neces- 
sary to the freedom of the individual." ^ Since the forma- 
tion of habits is so important to education, it may be profit- 
able to consider the fundamental habit of obedience. 

' Dr. Harris. Note in Rosenkranz' " Philosophy of Education," p. 35. 



HABITS AND THEIR FORMATION 149 

Obedience. — The child should be educated to implicit, 
unquestioning obedience from the outset. The parent first 
of all, and later the teacher, owes it to the child to teach 
him this lesson because so much of his happiness and use- 
fulness as an individual depends upon it. When this 
habit has been formed, parental and school discipline will be 
reduced to a minimum. The question naturally arises, 
How early should its formation begin? When should the 
parent expect the child to obey ? For surely the lesson must 
be learned long before the child goes to school. In general 
it may be said that the formation of the habit of obedience 
should begin as soon as the child is able to understand 
what is required of him, and this is when he is only a few 
months old. A concrete example will illustrate the point. 
A young father was brought face to face with the problem 
of securing obedience from his eighteen-months-old boy. 
He assured himself thoroughly that the child understood 
what was required of him, and that an act of his was a 
clear case of disobedience. He punished the boy until 
complete submission was secured, although it required 
fully half an hour before the child yielded. He believed that 
this was the first step towards the formation of the habit 
of obedience which would only need be followed by steady 
and firm treatment. I met that father sixteen years later, 
and inquired as to the success of the form of discipline 
which he so early inaugurated. He replied that from the 
time of the first struggle in which the child was brought 
to obedience till that time, when he was nearly eighteen 
years old and about to enter college, he had never offered 
any serious resistance to parental discipline. He also said 
that the same plan had been followed with his three younger 
children with a similar result. 



150 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

There is no doubt that the formation of the habit in 
children of implicit obedience early in life would save parents 
many hours of anxiety and doubt, and would also guarantee 
to the children themselves a greater degree of real happi- 
ness and freedom. It is natural that the parent should 
exercise authority and that the child should obey, and the 
same is the true relation between teacher and pupil. The 
child, being weak, must rely upon one who is strong, and 
this is true in the intellectual as well as in the physical 
world. And this reliance, this obedience, must be confid- 
ing, unquestioning, absolute. The child must obey because 
one who is wiser, stronger, older, and possesses authority 
gives the command. Such command need not be harsh 
and must not be unreasonable. The reason need not be 
given to the child until he is old enough to comprehend it. 
It destroys discipline to allow the child to stop and argue. 
When he is old enough to comprehend the reason it may 
be given him, but it will hardly be necessary if the early 
training has inspired confidence in the wisdom, justice, and 
love of the parent. "Charles (four years old) does not 
know why he should obey me any more than I should obey 
him," said a father to me. I have watched that boy for 
the past ten years since that time, and he has given his 
father a great deal of trouble simply because he had not 
been taught at the outset the law of obedience. 

The great lesson of divine government is obedience, and 
the better that lesson is learned, the more confidence is 
there in the Father's everlasting love and kindness. "Hath 
the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, 
as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is 
better than sacrifice, and to hearken, than the fat of rams," 



HABITS AND THEIR FORMATION 151 

is the rebuke of the prophet Samuel to Saul when the 
latter excused his disobedience on the ground that the 
spoils of war, saved contrary to divine command, were to 
be offered as sacrifices. And the parent, in his relation to 
his children, stands as the representative of Jehovah. 

Instead of destroying the independence, the spirit of 
freedom, which Americans love to inculcate in their children, 
it gives them true ideas of freedom, — the freedom that 
respects the rights of others; that submits to the necessary 
regulations of the family and the school, and to the laws 
of the state; that finds its highest ideals met by submission 
to rightful authority; that expresses itself through perfect 
self-control. The man who disobeys the laws of the State 
and becomes a criminal, is outside of the law, or an out- 
law. He must be deprived of his freedom because he fails 
to comply with the laws of society. Even if he is not incar- 
cerated in jail, he is not free, because he is in constant fear 
of the vengeance of the law, and in dread of apprehension 
by its officers. Thus he is never free. But he who lives 
in obedience to law is free indeed. No policeman watches 
his domicile, and no detective dogs his footsteps. Greatest 
freedom, therefore, is enjoyed by those who live within the 
letter and the spirit of the law. This is as true with the 
child in the home, the pupil in the school, who obeys 
the necessary regulations, as it is with the citizen under the 
laws of the state. Obedience to constituted authority 
alone gives true freedom, and therefore, in training the 
child to the habit of obedience, he is being prepared for 
his most precious birthright of American citizenship. It 
is the lack of this training in early life that is responsible 
for the growing disrespect for law and disregard for authority 



152 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

which may well awaken alarm in the heart of every patriot. 
And the only way to correct these tendencies is by early 
implanting the habit of obedience. 

With the fundamental habit of obedience thoroughly 
established, the fixing of other right habits in the home and 
in the school becomes a natural and an easy matter. For 
the child is ready to heed the admonitions against habits 
that are evil, and follow directions concerning those that 
are good. Without the habit of obedience there is no cer- 
tainty that other good habits will be formed. 

Punishment, — Some form of corrective means must 
at times be resorted to in securing the habit of obedience 
and of other habits. Hence a discussion of punishment 
must be connected with this theme. "Punishment," says 
Rosenkranz/ "as an educational means is, nevertheless, 
essentially corrective, since, by leading the youth to a 
proper estimation of his fault and a positive change in his 
behavior, it seeks to improve him." By punishment we 
mean a penalty imposed by some one in authority as a 
consequence of some wrong done. It must not be lightly 
or thoughtlessly inflicted. " Only when all other efforts have 
failed is punishment, which is the real negation of the error, 
the transgression, the vice, justifiable. Punishment inten- 
tionally inflicts pain on the pupil, and its object is, by means 
of this sensation, to bring him to reason, — a result which 
neither our simple prohibition, our explanation, nor our 
threat of punishment, has been able to reach." ^ 

It must not be forgotten that the purpose of punishment 
in the school is quite different from that of the State. In 
the State the object of punishment is to satisfy justice, to 

1 'Thilosophy of Education," j). 39. " Ibid., p. 38. 



HABITS AND THEIR FORMATION 153 

serve as a warning, to act as a restraint upon others, to be 
retributive. The State deals with those who have arrived 
at the age of personal accountability, and it holds them 
answerable for their acts. Such attitude on the part of the 
State is necessary in order to secure a wholesome respect 
for law, and in order to prevent crime. In the home and 
the school, however, the transgressor is immature, and 
largely irresponsible for his deeds, and therefore the object 
of punishment is corrective and reformatory rather than 
retributive. The State also acts in this spirit in dealing 
with its juvenile criminals in that it sends them to reforma- 
tories instead of prisons. It must be said that the recent 
tendency in prison methods, even with adult criminals, is 
to seek their reform as well as to satisfy justice. 

This leads us to say in the next place that punishment 
in the case of children should be individual rather than 
serve as an example for others. What is for the good of 
the individual child for a particular offense, the nature of 
which is clearly understood by him, is the problem, and 
his individual offense should be in mind in the punishment 
inflicted. Doubtless others will be restrained by the knowl- 
edge that such punishment has been inflicted, but the effect 
upon them should not enter into the consideration. Again, 
it will be noticed that this is an entirely different motive 
from that which must control the State in dealing with its 
mature offenders. The motives of the child, his home 
training, his environment, his temperament, the tempta- 
tions that have beset him, the circumstances connected 
with the wrong, must all be taken into account. It must 
never be forgotten that he is a cliild. He must be treated 
with a view to his reformation and the formation of the 



154 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

habit of right action and obedience to law. The teacher 
must have no fixed penalties for given offenses, as in the case 
of the State, but must consider each individual case, tak- 
ing into account the considerations above enumerated, and 
then administer such punishment as will meet the partic- 
ular case in hand. The State, with certain limitations 
within the discretion of its courts, fixes the penalties fo^ 
each crime. The school cannot do this because the pur- 
pose of its punishments is so essentially different, as has 
been shown, and because it deals with immature beings. 

Again, the punishment with children should, as far as 
possible, he the natural sequence of the offense. This prin- 
ciple was laid down by Basil the Great in the fourth cen- 
tury, by Rousseau in his theory of training Emile, and 
emphasized by Herbert Spencer. Mr. Spencer discusses 
this point as follows:^ "When a child falls, or runs its head 
against the table, it suffers a pain, the remembrance of 
which tends to make it more careful in the future; and by 
an occasional repetition of like experiences, it is disciplined 
into a proper guidance of its movements. If it lays hold of 
the fire-bars, thrusts its finger into the candle-flame, or 
spills boiling water on any part of its skin, the resulting 
burn or scald is a lesson not easily forgotten. So deep 
an impression is produced by one or two such events, that 
afterward no persuasion will induce it again to disregard 
the laws of its constitution in these ways. 

"Now in these and like cases. Nature illustrates to us 
the simplest way, the true theory and practice of moral 
discipline.^ . . . Observe, in the first place, that in bodily 

* "Education," p. 172. 

^ The discussion is too long for these pages and I can only quote excerpts. 
The reader is advised to study the whole passage in Spencer's "Education." 



HABITS AND THEIR FORMATION 155 

injuries and their penalties we have misconduct and its 
consequences reduced to their simplest forms. Though, 
according to their popular acceptations, right and wrong 
are words scarcely applicable to actions that have none 
but direct bodily effects; yet whoever considers the matter 
will see that such actions must be as much classifiable 
under these heads as any other actions. . . . Note, in the 
second place, the character of the punishments by which 
these physical transgressions are prevented. Punishments, 
we call them, in the absence of a better word; for they are 
not punishments in a literal sense. They are not artificial 
and unnecessary inflictions of pain, but are the beneficent 
checks to actions that are essentially at variance with bodily 
welfare — checks in the absence of which life would be 
quickly destroyed by bodily injuries. It is the peculiarity 
of these penalties, if we must so call them, that they are 
nothing more than the unavoidable consequences of the 
deeds which they follow: they are nothing more than tlie 
inevitable relations entailed by the child's actions. 

"Is it not manifest that as 'ministers and interpreters of 
Nature,' it is the function of parents to see that their 
children habitually experience the true consequences of 
their conduct — the natural reactions ; neither warding 
them off, nor intensifying them, nor puttmg artificial con- 
sequences in place of them?" 

As to the effect of this method the author further adds, 
"Among the advantages of this method we see — First, 
that it gives that rational comprehension of right and 
wrong conduct which results from actual experience of the 
good and bad consequences caused by them. Second, 
that the child suffering nothing more than the painful 



156 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

effects brought upon it by its own wrong actions, must 
recognize more or less clearly the justice of the penalties. 
Third, that, recognizing the justice of the penalties, and 
receiving those penalties through the workings of things, 
rather than at the hands of an individual, its temper will 
be less disturbed; while the parent occupying the com- 
paratively passive position of taking care that the natural 
penalties are felt, will preserve a comparative equanimity. 
And fourth, that mutual exasperation being thus in a 
great measure prevented, a much happier, and a more 
influential state of feeling will exist between parent and 
child." 

As the teacher in a large measure stands in the place of 
the parent, it will not be difficult to apply the same line of 
reasoning to the punishments of the school. If the general 
principles above outlined are followed, school punishment 
will be reduced to a minimum. Rosenkranz, in speaking 
of the kinds of punishment, says,^ ''Generally speaking, 
we must take into consideration the sex and age: (i) some 
kind of corporal punishment is most suitable for children, 
(2) isolation for older boys and girls, and (3) punishment 
based on the sense of honor for young men and women." 

The strong tendency of modern times is to abolish cor- 
poral punishment from the schools, and many states have 
enacted laws forbidding it. There is no question that this 
tendency has had a most humanizing influence upon the 
schools. The old-time brutality that characterized the 
schools has gone forever. It is certain that the teacher 
who cannot control a school without frequent resort to 
severe discipline is lacking in the most essential requisite 

* "Philosophy of Education," p. 40. 



HABITS AND THEIR FORMATION 157 

of the good disciplinarian. The best discipline is that 
which remains in the background, which controls without 
noise or friction, and in which the pupils quietly and 
almost unconsciously govern themselves. That children 
can be accustomed to this kind of self-government is beyond 
question. When frequent punishments must be resorted 
to, whatever be their nature, the supreme end of school 
government has not been attained. When the pupils have 
learned to obey and to exercise self-control and self-govern- 
ment, and when this has become a habit, the end of disci- 
pline has been reached and the teacher can devote himself 
to the real purpose of the school, that of instruction. 



Summary 

I. Habit is the tendency to repeat an act in the same way 
without conscious reflection. The character of the indi- 
vidual is outwardly exhibited by the nature of his habits; 
hence it is the function of education to superintend the 
formation of the chiUVs habits. Bad habits, to be effectu- 
ally eradicated, must be supplanted by good ones. As the 
child becomes mature he should first be taught the nature of 
a habit, and then encouraged to choose right ones. 

II. Obedience is a fundamental habit which should be 
formed early in life. It is the natural relation between 
parent and offspring, teacher and pupil, and is necessary to 
the real happiness and genuine freedom of the child. Prop- 
erly inculcated in the home, the school, and the State, it 
secures that respect for law which is essential to patriotic 
citizenship. 



158 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

III. Punishment is a penalty imposed by some one in 
authority as a consequence of a wrong act. With children 
it should be corrective and reformatory rather than retribu- 
tive, individual rather than as an example for others, and it 
should be the natural sequence of the ojjense. Its ultimate 
purpose is to establish the habit of self-control, and self- 
direction. 



CHAPTER XI 

EDUCATIONAL LIMITATIONS 

References. — Smith, Walks and Talks; Harden, Pushing to 
the Front; Helen Keller, Story of My Life; Shearer, Morals and 
Manners; Lamson, Laura Bridgnian; Seeley, Foundations of Edu- 
cation; Barhe, Going to College. 

Education is Emancipation. — The process of educa- 
tion is a process of emancipation. The normal child is 
born into the world entirely ignorant of its wonders, its 
beauties, and the vast field of knowledge it embraces. 
But he possesses the capacity to learn, not everything it 
is true, but many things, and therefore marvelous possi- 
bilities lie before him. He has no knowledge to begin 
with, and is weak and powerless; and yet, in a few years a 
world of knowledge may be mastered by him, and the 
forces of the whole realm of nature may be subject to his 
command. What a measureless expanse lies between the 
helpless infant just opening his eyes upon a great world, 
and a Bacon, a Newton, a Gladstone, an Aristotle! The 
child is in the bondage of ignorance, and every act of curi- 
osity, every exercise of hand, foot, or mind, every ques- 
tion asked, every impulse expressed is a struggle toward 
freedom from that bondage. For intelligence is freedom, 
and he who is in the bonds of ignorance is a slave indeed. 

The education of every child must start with the pre- 
sumption that he possesses capacity. No device of teach- 
ing, no well-conceived method, no arrangement of the 
educative material, no zeal, or wisdom, or skill, or enthu- 

159 



l6o ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

siasm on the part of the teacher can avail if the pupil does 
not possess the capacity to learn. Dr. Marble writes, 
"There is a presumption at the start that the child has 
brains. It is safe, also, to assume that he has used that 
organ to some extent, and in more directions than one, 
before coming to school; and he must be compelled to use 
it again, and to use it constantly. This presumption will 
enable the teacher to skip many of the methods and to 
lighten and shorten the work." He speaks of the various 
methods employed, and adds, "I am not objecting to these 
ingenious methods at the beginning; but they ought to be 
dropped at the earliest possible moment, so that the child 
may be compelled to employ his own activity — to use his 
brain; for, let it not be forgotten, the child is presumed to 
have brains." 

Only in such directions as the child has capacity can he 
be educated. Some possess capacity for music, some for 
art, some for handiwork, some for business, some for 
invention, some for investigation, some for literary pursuits, 
and each individual can attain highest efficiency and success 
only in the field in which nature has endowed him. No 
amount of training can avail to secure marked results where 
such endowment is wanting. Of course the teacher must 
not be too ready to pronounce the child who may be slow 
to respond as incapacitated. Rapid physical development, 
material unsuited to the period of the child's life, false 
method of presentation may cause the child to appear dull 
and incapable of certain work. Child study has discovered 
many of the causes of arrested development and led to the 
adoption of means of correcting mistakes and meeting 
irregularities in intellectual growth. And still greater 
results are to be expected in this field of investigation. 



EDUCATIONAL LIMITATIONS l6l 

Sometimes the material is offered at the wrong time. 
Mrs. Wilson gives us a case in point with one of her own 
cliildren. She writes/ "We had a child whose mind 
balked in arithmetic. We lost all patience — so much 
easier it is to preach than to practice in the matter of 
patience. Then common sense and consistency flashed the 
thought upon me: 'This child is of at least ordinary 
intelligence; I am surely of extra-ordmdiry patience in 
educational matters; we must, therefore, be attempting 
unnatural things.' On the spot I said to the child: 
'There! Close your book. You need have no more to 
do with arithmetic for one year. We'll see if you won't 
grow to that! We'll try a rotation of crops.' 

"We were given grace (which I think was quite remark- 
able) to adhere to that decision, and when at the end of 
the year, the child went again about her arithmetic, we 
were delighted and inconsistently amazed to observe the 
naturalness and ease with which she skipped along, making 
not the slightest difficulty over the particular subject on 
which she had stumbled so vexatiously. And that child, 
at a later date, performed some quite unusual feats in 
mathematics, which I cannot help fancying she would 
never have done if she had continued to be nagged instead 
of being set free." 

Dulness not Incapacity. — Again, a child may be natur- 
ally slow, not dull, but a type of mind that grasps the 
truth only with difficulty, but often, as a compensation, holds 
what is once grasped with remarkable tenacity. A super- 
ficial examination may lead the teacher to think that 

* "Pedagogues and Parents," p. 183, 



l62 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

capacity is lacking, when it is simply a slow unfolding. 
The morning glory unfolds its petals almost at the first 
burst of sunlight and exposes its brilliancy to the world; 
the calla lily requires days to reach the fulness of its wonder- 
ful grace and exquisite beauty. So it often is with minds 
that are slow in unfolding; when once they reach the com- 
pleteness of their development, they exhibit power, strength, 
and sometimes even brilliancy. Patience must be exercised 
in discovering the presence or absence of capacity. 

Even if there be lack of capacity in some particular 
direction, it by no means sets one down as an imbecile. 
The late Colonel Parker used to say, " So far as music is con- 
cerned, I am an idiot." And yet, he did more to influence 
elementary education in this country than any one since 
Horace Mann. General Grant remarked, "There are only 
two tunes that I know: one is 'Yankee Doodle,' and the 
other isn't." Wellington, Goldsmith, James Watt, An- 
thony Trollope, and Sir Walter Scott were incapable of 
meeting many of the requirements of the school course. 
Harden remarks,* "Give every boy and girl a fair chance 
and reasonable encouragement, and do not condemn them 
because of even a large degree of downright stupidity ; for 
many so-called good-for-nothing boys, blockheads, num- 
skulls, dullards, or dunces, were only boys out of their 
places, round boys forced into square holes." 

Thackeray says, "Let us people who are so uncom- 
monly clever and learned, have a great tenderness and 
pity for the folks who are not endowed with the prodigious 
talents which we have. I have always had a regard for 
dunces, — those of my own school days were among the 

* "Pushing to the Front," p. 86. 



EDUCATIONAL LIMITATIONS 163 

pleasantest of the fellows, and have turned out by no means 
the dullest in life; whereas, many a youth who could turn 
off Latin hexameters by the yard, and construe Greek 
quite glibly, is no better than a feeble prig now, with not a 
pennyworth more brains than were in his head before his 
beard grew." 

But when it becomes evident that capacity for a certain 
thing is lacking in a child, school life should not be made 
a burden to him by insisting that he take work which he has 
no power to grasp. George Combe said, in speaking of 
mathematics, "I can speak on this subject the more decid- 
edly from being myself very deficient in this faculty, not- 
withstanding my exertions to cultivate it. Arithmetic has 
always been to me a profound mystery, and the mastery 
of the multiplication table an insurmountable task. I 
could not now tell you how many eight times nine are with- 
out going to work circuitously and reckoning by means of 
the tens, and yet for seven years I studied arithmetic. 
This deficiency has been the occasion of much trouble to 
me. I could understand everything relating to accounts, 
but had always to employ clerks to perform calculations. 
This faculty in me is in fact idiotic." And yet, he was a 
great scholar, anthropologist, and lecturer. 

With the possession of capacity, all things are possible 
to the human mind. Illustration of this is found in the 
many instances of young men who have been handicapped 
by lack of means and by other unfavorable circumstances, 
and yet have overcome all obstacles and achieved success. 
The most remarkable instance of this in modern times is 
the case of Helen Keller, who, though deprived of seeing 
and hearing, the two most important avenues of com- 



164 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

munication with the external world, burst the fetters 
that bound her, prepared for and passed through college, 
and obtained a breadth of knowledge surpassing that of 
most young people of her age. Although handicapped in 
the means of obtaining knowledge, she overcame the 
obstacles because she possesses capacity. It shows what 
can be accomplished by one determined to succeed, even 
though placed under extraordinary limitations, and her 
case should therefore serve as an inspiration to others. 
Indeed, it proves that possession of capacity is a far more 
valuable heritage than wealth, than "blue blood," or even 
than the senses of seeing and hearing, however desirable 
these tilings may be. 

Self-Activity. — But no amount of zeal or skill on the 
part of the teacher, no approved method, no superior 
instruction, no clioice of material, no employment of cir- 
cumstance, environment or mechanical means, however 
essential all tliese may be, can avail unless the self-activity 
of the pupil can be aroused. Froebel lays great stress 
upon the child's self-activity; Herbart upon educative 
instruction (Erziehende-Unterricht). Inspector Hughes 
makes a most vivid comparison between the conceptions 
of these two great educators.^ 

"Both Herbart and Froebel studied the child in order 
to lay down a system of education that would help to ennoble 
man, and enable him to work out his highest destiny. 
They were fully in accord in regard to the true aim of 
education. Both made the development of moral char- 
acter the great purpose of all education, and their study of 

' Educational Review, Vol. X, p. 240. 



EDUCATIONAL LIMITATIONS 1 65 

the child was made to find the surest way to reach this 
desired end. There was a radical difference, however, in 
their attitude toward the child. Herbart studied the child 
to find the best that could be done for it; Froebel studied 
it to learn how it could be aided in working out its own 
best development. Herbart magnified the work of the 
teacher; Froebel magnified the work of the child. Her- 
bart made instruction and Froebel made self-activity the 
source and cause of growth in knowledge and character. 
. . . Froebel's educational system rests broadly on two 
great laws: the law of unity, and the law of self-activity. . . . 
Froebel believed that the child has within him a self-active 
soul, an element of divinity, the selfhood or individuality of 
the child, and this develops by being put forth in gaining 
a knowledge of his environment, and in performing the 
duties pertaining to social relationships. These opinions 
led him to discover liis law of spontaneity or self- activity, 
which he made the underlying principle of all his develop- 
ing and teaching process in the kindergarten and in the 
school. Herbart studied the child to mold it; Froebel 
studied it to guide it in its growth. Herbart studied the 
child as a philosopher; Froebel studied it as a sympathetic 
friend. . . . Herbart saw the need of control much more 
clearly than the need of freedom ; Froebel saw the harmony 
between freedom and control Herbart made instruction 
the basis of virtue; Froebel made morality depend on true 
living in the home and in the school, on the awakening of 
the ideal as a counterpoise to the sensual, and on the recog- 
nition of, and reverence for, the life principle in and behind 
nature. Herbart made will result from action; Froebel 
made action result from will. Self-activity developed the 



1 66 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

will according to Froebel, but will increased in power is 
the result of its exercise in causing creative self-activity. " 

Doubtless the truth lies between these two positions. 
Left absolutely to his own self-activity, the child would 
make little progress, nor would the race progress. The 
child would move in a circle, would not be able to utilize 
the results of the world's intellectual advancement, would 
fail to begin where others have left off, and would be 
unable to avail himself of the experience and knowledge 
that others have gained. He must be directed in his 
activity, and through wise and systematic instruction be 
inducted into the wisdom that the world has already 
attained. On the other hand, to depend entirely on instruc- 
tion, to expect that through the superior knowledge, skill, 
and enthusiasm of the teacher, education may be secured, 
is equally futile. Only when wise and suitable instruction 
directs, systematizes, and stimulates the child's activity 
will the end be reached. The truth, then, lies between 
the extreme Froebehan and the radical Herbartian view. 

The true method will employ both of these ideas, — it 
will stimulate self-activity in a child, without which he will 
acquire nothing, and it will lead and direct that activity by 
means of instruction. The child must think and act for 
himself, and the teacher must never attempt to do for him 
what he can do for himself. But left entirely to himself, 
he will fail to make systematic progress, he will waste effort 
in doing over again what has long since been done; hence 
the necessity of instruction. 

Self-Employment. — Following closely upon the idea of 
self-activity is that of self-employment. The child is 



EDUCATIONAL LIMITATIONS 167 

naturally active. This activity at first shows itself in 
various kinds of play. We have seen how play may be 
utilized for educational ends (p. 116). Gradually the child 
must learn to work, and if he never learns to work, except 
under the supervision of another, he will forever remain a 
menial and a drudge. The difference between the man 
who directs and the one who is directed by others, lies in 
their power of self-employment. The man who is placed 
over others as superintendent, must first have learned how 
to set himself at work before he is capable of directing his 
subordinates. This is the chief characteristic of leaders 
in every field, and it is the most important element of 
success in any sphere of life. The school, therefore, finds 
here a most essential duty. It must train the pupils to set 
themselves at work, and tenaciously to stick to their tasks 
until they have mastered them. Discipline will be much 
easier when the child has learned how to employ himself, 
when to keep busy has become a habit. 

Nor is the danger of getting into mischief when unem- 
ployed confined to children. It is not during the hours of 
occupation in the shop or the factory that the saloon tempts 
men, but during their idle hours. Nor is it the man who 
possesses within his own resources the means of entertain- 
ment and employment who seeks places of evil. The pro- 
prietors of these places understand human nature and there- 
fore they provide entertainment — music, cards, and other 
attractions. The best way to fortify the youth against these 
allurements is to establish in them the ability to employ 
themselves profitably and entertainingly. Provide men with 
this power and more will be done to close the saloon than 
any other means that can be devised, for it will rob the 
saloon of its patrons. 



1 68 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

Training to employ one's self thus becomes a most 
important duty of the teacher, because it equips the pupil 
for success in life and establishes a moral influence that 
enables him to satisfy his needs through his own resources, 
and furnishes an outlet for the expression of his energies. 
Such training should be persistent and systematic through- 
out childhood until the habit is established. And if such 
a habit has become fixed, it will be of more value than a 
knowledge of many books, than the learning embraced in 
a whole curriculum, for these will be within his future 
mastery. 

The home can materially aid in securing this educational 
equipment by providing good books, suitable games, and 
the right kind of tools. Professor Stoy of Jena used to pro- 
vide a plot of ground which was divided among his school 
boys, each having a section which he was allowed to plant 
with whatever crop he pleased, care for as he would, and 
enjoy the harvest in his own way. It furnished a splendid 
opportunity for the boys to employ themselves in healthful 
out-door work, under the inspiration of the hope of future 
reward in the crop raised. And valuable moral lessons 
were taught, for those that were most diligent and pains- 
taking reaped the largest harvest, while those who were 
negligent were punished with a limited reward. The 
wise parent who lives in the country, will make use of the 
same practice with his children by giving them a garden 
of their own to cultivate, putting into their charge fowls or 
young animals to bring up, holding them responsible for 
their charge, and letting them have the increase therefrom. 
The many opportunities thus furnished on the farm, largely 
will account for the sterhng men and women it produces, 



EDUCATIONAL LIMITATIONS 169 

who are early trained to habits of responsibihty and self- 
employment. 

Self-Control. — 

"The noblest lesson taught by life 
To every great, heroic soul, 
Who seeks to conquer in the strife, 
Is self-control." 

One of the best evidences of an education is the power 
of self-control. The cultivated person is far less likely to 
give way to unreasoning and unbridled passion than the 
ignorant man. Indeed, want of power to hold one's self 
in check under extraordinary provocation is an evidence of 
lack of good training. The person who has learned to be 
urbane, polite, polished, until he exercises these qualities 
from force of habit, exhibits the result of long training and 
education. Self-control on the part of a person accused 
of crime is regarded by courts as an evidence that he is 
accustomed to being called before the bar of justice, and 
is therefore educated in crime, whereas, perturbation on 
the part of the accused is evidence that he at least is not an 
old offender, if not innocent. 

If the purpose of education is to establish character, the 
cultivation of self-control should be an important function 
of the school work. The most salutary means of training 
the child to this valuable habit may be mentioned as follows : 

I. Make him feel the loss of love of those dear to him, 
and the respect of those about him, when he gives way to 
unbridled anger, to selfishness, or to other intemperate 
actions. 



170 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

2. Appeal to his sense of shame, and make him uncom- 
fortable as a result of his wrong-doing. 

3. When he is old enough, appeal to the fear of God, 
and the wrong in His sight of yielding to passion, as a 
means of leading him to abstain from evil and to control 
himself. 

4. Through a wise and judicious employment of the 
principle of appeal to honor as a means of discipline, lead 
him to be self-governing, rather than to depend upon 
being governed by means of the watchfulness of the teacher 
or the parent. 

5. Teach him the meaning and importance of this 
principle and lead him to desire to practice it himself. 

6. Give him the opportunity to practice self-control upon 
all occasions, hold him responsible for failure to do so, and by 
wise and gentle admonitions lead him always to do his best. 

A celebrated German educator who visited this country 
in 1893, as a royal representative of educational interests 
at the Columbian Exposition, was struck with the remark- 
able self-control manifested by the American people. 
Said he, "I was at the Exposition on Cliicago Day when 
750,000 people passed tlu-ough the gates. Every trans- 
portation facility was taxed to the uttermost. Immense 
crowds gathered at each terminus, patiently and good- 
naturedly waiting their turn to get into the cars. I did not 
see a single disgraceful jam. Why, if five persons wanted 
to get on a Berlin street car, there would be more confusion 
than I saw in that great crowd. It was the most remark- 
able exhibition of self-control that I ever saw. " Doubtless 



EDUCATIONAL LIMITATIONS 171 

this result is largely owing to the American theory that 
every man must take care of himself, must be indepen- 
dent, as against the German theor' of paternalism, of con- 
trol by those in authority. 

This power of self-control is fostered by such experiences 
as those of Erasmus, who starved himself to buy Greek 
books; by Faraday, who lived over a stable and peddled 
newspapers; by Lincoln, who read the Bible and ^Esop's 
fables by the light of a pine knot; by Franklin, who 
told his landlady to "make the soup thinner" when she 
informed him that she would have to charge more for his 
board, and by many others who became great in spite of 
unfavorable circumstances. 

Material Means of Education. — There are certain 
material means that must be taken into account in con- 
sidering the limitations of education, such as, the time 
involved, and the necessary money. Rosenkranz speaks 
of this as the objective limit as follows:^ "That the talent 
for certain culture shall be present is certainly the first thing ; 
but the cultivation of this talent is the second, and no less 
necessary. But how much cultivation can be given to it, 
extensively and intensively depends upon the means used, 
and these again are conditioned by the material resources 
of the family to which one belongs. The greater and 
more valuable the means of culture which are found in 
the family, the greater the immediate advantage which the 
culture of each one has at the start. "With regard to many 
of the arts and sciences, this limit of education is of great 
significance. But the means alone are of no avail. The 

' "Philosophy of Education," p. 48, 



172 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

finest educational apparatus will produce no fruit where 
corresponding talent is wanting, while on the other hand 
talent often accomplishes incredible feats with hmited 
means, and, if the way is only once open, makes itself the 
center of attraction which draws to itself with magnetic 
power the necessary means." 

This interpreted, means that if there be the possession 
of talent, and the determination to overcome the disadvan- 
tage of the lack of money, a way can always be found to 
gain an education. Abundant illustrations of this fact are 
found on every hand, in the experiences of students, poor in 
this world's goods, but rich in energy, determination, and 
capacity. Every college in the land can furnish numerous 
examples of students who are working their way through 
the course, wholly dependent upon themselves, performing 
all sorts of labor of hand and brain in order to meet their 
expenses. And it is a fine comment on the spirit of Ameri- 
can youth that such students rarely lose caste among their 
fellow students. This furnishes an example of true democ- 
racy, where a man is esteemed for what he is and what he 
does, rather than for his wealth or social position. The 
lack of capacity is an insurmountable obstacle to education; 
but the lack of material means can be overcome by every 
one who is determined to secure an education, and many 
a man is better through being comj)elled to bear this 
burden. The noblest fiber of the individual is brought to 
light and tested, the real value of education is understood, 
and lessons of great import in after life are learned 
never to be forgotten. It thus often happens that lack of 
material means, instead of being a misfortune becomes a 
real blessing; instead of being an evil it proves to be a 



EDUCATIONAL LIMITATIONS l73 

most valuable means of self-culture. Certain it is that 
many of the leaders of the world's thought and activities 
to-day, have passed through just this crucible. 

The Power of Self-Direction. — No man's education is 
ever completed as long as life lasts. The wider the intel- 
lectual horizon the greater the possibihties of further knowl- 
edge. If a candle be placed in the center of a dark space 
it will light up objects near at hand for a space of, say, 
twenty feet in diameter. In the horizon of the circle about 
this diameter, there will appear many indistinct objects. 
Substitute a lamp for the candle and the dim objects in 
the former horizon become perfectly clear; but a large 
horizon of perhaps fifty feet in diameter will be formed and 
consequently a far greater number of unknown, indistinct 
objects will appear. Once more, substitute for the lamp 
an arc light, capable of illuminating a space five hundred 
feet in diameter, and again the objects dimly seen in the 
former horizon become clear; but we find a still greater 
number of unknown objects in the much enlarged circle. 
So it is with the widening, enlightening power of education. 
A little learning fosters conceit; the horizon being small 
there are but few things that are unknown. Enlarge the 
horizon and the conceit diminishes — the wisest men are 
noted for their humility. Every enlargement of the horizon 
increases and extends the view, while it impresses the mind 
with how little relatively the wisest can know. An edu- 
cated man has been described as one who has found out 
that he knows but little. 

Instead of leaving one satisfied with a narrow horizon, 
or discouraged by the immensity of the field of knowledge, 



174 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

it is the province of education to awaken a thirst for intel- 
lectual acquirement, to stimulate atnbition for its possession, 
and to cultivate the power of pursuing it independently. 
The teacher that accompHshes these ends bestows the 
greatest boon upon his pupils, a far more important result 
than if he gives them great knowledge and fails to teach 
them to be self-directive. 

Rosenkranz calls this the absolute limit. He says,^ 
*' The absolute limit of education is the time when the youth 
has apprehended the problem which he has to solve, has 
learned to know the means at his disposal, and has acquired 
a certain facility in using them. The end and aim of edu- 
cation is the emancipation of the youth. It strives to make 
him self-dependent, and as soon as he has become so, it 
wishes to retire and leave to him the sole responsibility for 
his actions. To treat the youth after he has passed this 
point still as a youth, contradicts the very idea of educa- 
tion, which finds its fulfilment in the attainment of this 
state of maturity by the pupil. Since the completion of 
education cancels the inequality between the educator 
and the pupil, nothing is more oppressing, nay, revolting 
to the latter than to be excluded by a continued state of 
dependence from the enjoyment of the freedom wliich he 
has earned." 

When one considers that a large proportion of pupils 
leave school at twelve years of age or earlier, the importance 
of training children to be able to direct their own. future 
educational development becomes evident. This object 
should be clearly in the minds of the teachers of the elemen- 
tary schools, else the great majority of the people will never 
* "Philosophy of Education," p. 49. 



UD UCA TIONAL LI MI TA TIONS 



175 



attain to it. The teacher that inspires the cliild with a 
desire for learning and equips him with the power of 
directing his own acquirement, has done the very best thing 
that can be accompHshed in the school. It puts him in the 
way of attaining the complete emancipation of which 
Rosenkranz speaks. The work of the elementary teacher 
is thus shown to be the most important in the whole field 
of education, (i) because it alone reaches some eighty 
per cent of the whole mass of children that go to no other 
school; and (2) because it gives even to those who extend 
their course the inspiration, the impulse, the power of self- 
direction without which future study would be misdirected 
and inefficient. With the abundance of educational facil- 
ities at hand, the libraries, the lecture courses, the maga- 
zines and newspapers, the pulpit, the literary club, the 
intercourse with cultured persons — there is no limit to 
the development of one who has learned how to direct 
his intellectual energies. 

Advantages of Superior Education. — Possessing the 
capacity and the material means, and having acquired the 
power of self-direction, is it wise to secure an advanced 
education? Does it pay? is the question that Americans 
are apt to ask. From an analysis of a list, given in "Who's 
Who in America," of 8000 persons who have achieved dis- 
tinction in the United States, the following result is apparent: 

1. " That an uneducated child has one chance in 
150,000 of attaining distinction as a factor in the progress 
of the age. 

2. "That a common school education will increase his 
chances nearly four times. 



176 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

3. " That a liigh school training will increase the 
chances of the common school boy twenty-three times, giving 
him eighty-seven times tlie chance of the uneducated. 

4. "Tha,t a college education increases the chances of 
the high school boy nine times, giving him 219 times the 
chance of the common school boy, and more than 800 
times the chance of the untrained." Of the nearly 8000 
notables given in this book, 4810 are full college gradu- 
ates. 

Dr. William T. Harris thinks that the chances of success 
of the properly educated person in both character and 
attainment, are as 250 to i over the uneducated. Investi- 
gations have shown that in the ministry, law, medicine, 
teaching, journalism, and even in merchandising, manu- 
facturing, and other business enterprises, education greatly 
increases a man's likelihood of success. James M. Dodge 
shows by careful statistics that the expenditure of time and 
money for an advanced education adds to the potential 
value of a man and increases his earning power far beyond 
the investment. He says,^ "I have endeavored to find out 
what the money investment is in a boy of sixteen. The 
census reports and statistics from abroad cannot possibly 
give all the items. It is so difficult to decide upon the 
class to which any individual belongs. I feel satisfied, 
however, that the world at large places a very accurate 
value on any commodity, and labor certainly is a commodity, 
and the community in which we live says that a sixteen- 
year-old lad in good health entering a shop is worth $3.00 
per week, and, consequently, his potential or invested 

* Address before the Williamson Trade School, Philadelphia, on "The 
Money Value of Training." 



EDUCATIONAL LIMITATIONS 1 77 

value is $3000. We will, therefore, establish this as his 
value." After a course of careful reasoning, amply illus- 
trated, he concludes, "A trained man at twenty-five years 
of age has a potential value of $22,000 (earning $22 per 
week), or in nine years he has increased his value $19,000, 
or at the rate of $2100 per annum, as compared with 
$1300 per annum for the untrained man (who may be 
expected to earn only $13 per week at twenty-five years of 
age), and with this manifest additional advantage over the 
untrained man — that his line has no limitation, so far 
as we can see," ^ 

But the money value of education is by no means the 
most important. Education increases a man's influence 
and his usefulness. In general, it may be asserted that 
the most useful and influential persons of a community 
owe their superiority to education rather than to wealtli, 
social position, or any other means. 

Then, too, must be considered the personal satisfaction, 
the power to comprehend and enjoy life, and make the 
most of it by those whose minds have been opened to the 
rich things of the world through the instrumentality of 
education. The power of enjoyment and appreciation is 
increased through the refining, broadening, and uplifting 
character of knowledge, and through the revelation of one's 
own capacities. The world of books, of science, of art, 
of nature, of the works of God and man is opened to the 
soul, and the invitation to enter, possess, and enjoy is 
understood and accepted. 

Education invites a man to make the most of himself and v 
shows him how to do it. This attainment is his duty as well 
^ See also Barbe, "Going to College." 



178 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

as his privilege. Hence the work of the teacher, who stimu- 
lates the youth to desire education and take advantage of 
his opportunities, who guides him in that work and unfolds 
unknown possibilities to him, who arouses his self-activity, 
is the greatest work in which man can engage. And the 
State through its generous support of schools, and private 
benefactors through their munificent gifts have made it 
possible in this land for every boy and girl who possesses 
the capacity, and who desires it, to gain a liberal education. 



Summary 

I. Education starts out with the assumption that the 
child possesses capacity, and this alone limits his possible 
achievement. Training should be along the line of the 
child's particular endowment, but the teacher must not be 
hasty in determining the special field in which the child is 
best fitted to work. 

II. Without self-activity on the part of the pupil all 
attempts to development are futile. This activity, however^ 
must be aroused by the teacher through instruction. The 
teacher must stimulate and guide the child, but never do for 
him what he can do for himself. The end ever in view 
must be the systematic direction of the child's activities so 
that he will have to employ himself and exercise self-control. 

III. A second limit of education is found in the material 
means at command, such as time and money. This, how- 
ever, can be overcome if there is determination and zeal 
coupled with capacity. 



EDUCATIONAL LIMITATIONS 1 79 

IV. The final limit is reached when the individual has 
acquired the ability to direct his own education. He then is 
emancipated, and is able to continue his development even 
if he cannot attend school or employ teachers. The attain- 
ment of this end is of far more importance than much 
knowledge and the possession of many facts. Wide culture 
increases the influence, the efficiency, the success, and the 
power of enjoyment of those possessing it. 



CHAPTER XII 

FACTORS IN THE EDUCATION OF THE CHILD 

References. — Educational Review, Vol. XXIV; Ogden, Science 
of Education; Seeley, Foundations of Education; Butler, The Mean- 
ing of Education; Spencer, Education; Wilson, Pedagogues and 
Parents. 

Primitive Education. — Many are disposed to relegate 
the work of education entirely to the school, — the secular 
school for secular education, and the Sunday school for 
religious education. This is a conception that too often 
prevails. In primitive times the home undertook the 
whole work of training the young. There were neither 
schools nor teachers in the modern sense, nor were these 
needed. In the simple nomadic Hfe the father tended his 
herds, followed the chase, and moved his tent from place 
to place as was necessary to seek pasturage for his flocks. 
Naturally his son went with him and obtained all the educa- 
tion needed for the simple Hfe they lived, through asso- 
ciating with and assisting his father. How to strike tent, 
to sling the stone or hurl the spear in battle or chase, how 
to prepare the skins of beasts for clothing and their flesh 
for food, how to defend himself, how to meet and conquer 
his enemies, were lessons he learned from his father in daily 
association, and they constituted all the education he needed. 
So, too, the daughter learned the ordinary duties of her 
home from her mother. But as civilization advanced, 
as the simple gave way to the more complex form of life 
in the home and in the vocation, as new demands were 

1 80 



FACTORS IN THE EDUCATION OF THE CHILD i8l 

made upon parents and new duties had to be assumed by 
them, they could no longer meet the educational require- 
ments of their cliildren and they were obliged to seek some 
other agency for their education. Hence the necessity for 
schools and teachers. Under the strenuous requirements 
of modern life in business, in the professions, as well as in 
society, neither the father nor the mother, even if well quali- 
fied to do so, can devote the necessary time for the educa- 
tion of their children. In addition to the increased de- 
mands upon the parents' time in meeting the duties of life, 
there are also greatly increased educational requirements, 
which can be satisfied only by employing persons specially 
prepared to teach, and by devoting a great deal of time in 
order to fulfil these requirements. 

But with all the multifarious duties of modern life that 
crowd upon parents, there can never be an excuse for turn- 
ing over the whole matter of educating their children to 
others — the duties of parentage involve the training, as 
well as the nourishing, clothing, and housing of their chil- 
dren. While, as we have seen, in the primitive period of 
the world's history, the whole duty of education could be 
assumed by the parents, they should not go to the other 
extreme at the present time. Attempt will be made later 
to show what agencies enter into the education of the child 
and the duties that should be assumed by them respec- 
tively. 

Importance of Education. — The problem of the edu- 
cation of the young is one of the greatest problems that 
has ever commanded the interest and thought of mankind. 
Many of the greatest men that ever lived have devoted their 



l82 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

noblest thoughts to this question. Socrates, Plato, Saint 
Augustine, Charlemagne, Luther, Locke, Bacon, Rousseau, 
Comenius, Pestalozzi, Spencer, and many others, have added 
to the riches of the world's literature in their writings on 
this subject. And these works have mightily forwarded 
the progress of civilization. Upon the solution of this 
problem depends the future of the child, the home, the com- 
munity, the State, and in the largest sense, the welfare of man 
himself. Education must teach the child his duty to his 
parents, to his comrades, to society, to his country, and to the 
world at large. It shapes the relationship of the home — 
between husband and wife, parents and children, brothers 
and sisters, master and servant, between the family and the 
outside world. It shows what one owes to the community, 
it teaches regard for the rights of others, awakens interest 
in public affairs, and leads to the practice of the Golden 
Rule in dealings with one's neighbors. It fosters genuine 
patriotism, informs as to the duties of citizenship, and 
makes peace-loving, law-abiding, duty-respecting members 
of the State, who are patriotic in peace as in war, who be- 
lieve that municipal integrity is as essential as personal 
righteousness, and of the same character, and who are con- 
sequently the support and bulwark of the State. The 
problem of education recognizes that the material and the 
intellectual in man do not comprise his whole being, but 
it assumes that he is also spiritual, and unless this side of 
his life is developed the full work of education has not been 
accomplished. 

There are at least five factors that enter into the education 
of the child, namely: the home, the school, civil society, the 
State, and the Church. Each has its duty to perform 



FACTORS IN THE EDUCATION OF THE CHILD 183 

which cannot be delegated to any other instrumentality 
without the child suffering in the completeness of his de- 
velopment. 

I. The Home. — We have seen how in primitive times 
the home was obliged to take the full responsibility of edu- 
cation, and how under the existing conditions it was easy 
for it to bear that responsibility. Under modern condi- 
tions, this is impossible in most families. But the home 
cannot be absolved from its duty whatever the conditions. 
In the first place, the first five or six years of childhood 
belong solely to the home. The child must be trained to 
good habits, such as cleanliness, regularity in eating, caring 
for its personal wants. It also learns to use a language, 
and much future trouble will be prevented if it learns cor- 
rect forms of expression. In the next place, it must not 
be forgotten that in this country the school has the child 
for only about five hours a day for something like two hun- 
dred days a year and for an average of about five years. 
This leaves by far the larger part of the child's time under 
the jurisdiction and influence of the home, even during its 
school life. 

Again, with reference to the school itself the home can- 
not escape responsibility. It must see that the child 
attends school punctually and regularly; that it is provided 
with suitable books and other school material, and that 
it gives obedience to the necessary school regulations. 
And when the child is old enough to do home-work, parents 
must see to it that these tasks are performed. It is not the 
duty of the parents to perform these tasks for their children, 
or even to assist them, and no wise teacher expects this. 
Indeed, the teacher generally prefers that parents shall not 



184 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

aid their children in their scliool work. The child is sent 
home with work that has already been explained and that 
should require no outside aid, work that is within his 
ability, and therefore aid from the parents is not desirable. 
It is the duty of the school to give the necessary instruction, 
to assign home tasks that are intended to fortify that in- 
struction, and all that should be expected of the parents 
is to see that their children are faithful in performing their 
work, devoting a reasonable amount of time thereto. In 
this way the parents will have a part in the intellectual 
education of their children, but will not be burdened with 
its details. This belongs to the school. 

If the intellectual development cannot be neglected by 
parents, how much more must their attention be given to 
their moral and spiritual upbuilding, which also is an 
essential part of the education of every human being. 
Religious culture as such cannot be undertaken in the 
State schools, for the support of which the public are taxed; 
hence the obligation upon parents in this respect is doubly 
binding. The moral teaching carried on in the schools 
should be supplemented by work in the home. The 
Church, the Sunday school, the Young Men's Christian 
Association, and various other institutions may furnish 
religious instruction for the young, but they should only 
serve as aids to the home, where children are to be 
regarded as "Gifts of God," and in which teaching them 
their duty to God and their fellow-men is accepted as a 
sacred obligation as well as a blessed privilege. Where the 
home is a sanctuary in which instruction in God's Word and 
in personal duty toward Him is supplemented by the holy, 
pure, and consistent example of the parents, there is no 



FACTORS IN THE EDUCATION OF THE CHILD 185 

substitute for it in any other institution as a means of 
teaching genuine rehgion. 

" Fads." — It is perfectly proper that parents should hold 
the school responsible for its work. It is an institution 
created and supported by them, their children are committed 
to its care, and much of the future success of these children 
depends upon its efficiency. But parents should not be too 
ready to criticise the school. They should visit it, study its 
work, become acquainted with the teachers, enter into 
their plans, sympathize with their difficulties, and intelli- 
gently aid them in every possible way. They should 
realize that most teachers are earnestly seeking to be a 
blessing to the children under their care, and therefore 
are worthy of support rather than antagonism. They 
should also remember that the school must prepare the 
children for present civilization and present conditions, 
and that the requirements of even a generation ago will not 
suffice to-day. New discoveries and inventions have been 
made which have added greatly to the world's knowledge; 
business methods have changed, and the curriculum of the 
school has necessarily been enlarged to meet the new 
conditions. The improvements of the school must keep 
abreast with the progress of the world, if not anticipate it. 
Besides this, greater knowledge of child development and of 
educational problems bear fruit in better methods of 
instruction and in a more rational course of study. For 
these reasons the common school course of study cannot 
be confined to the "Three R's." That reading, writing, 
and arithmetic should be thoroughly taught goes without 
saying, and it may be confidently asserted that they are 



l86 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

being better taught at the present time than at any period 
in the history of our schools. No teacher minimizes their 
value; but they are not the only subjects to be taught, nor 
even the most important ones. They are the instrument, 
the key that opens the door to the great riches of literature, 
art, science, and other stores of knowledge.^ 

2. The School. — The second factor in order of sequence 
is the school. In the ordinary conception of education, 
that of mere intellectual development, the school is the 
most important agent. But thinkers regard education as 
the development of the whole man, physical, intellectual, 
moral, and spiritual, as has already been shown in Chapter 
II, and with many cliildren, it must be admitted, about 
the only hope of their spiritual, as well as secular salvation, 
lies in the efficiency of the school. It is certainly true that 
the other agencies that largely influence the child in his 
environment are so demoralizing, in many cases at least, 
that if the school does not save him there is little hope for 
him. It is a blessed truth that many a man has been 
saved to usefulness and honorable life through the instru- 
mentality of a devoted teacher who established him in 
good habits and inspired him to right living in spite of the 
evil surroundings of his home. This is one of the compen- 

* In a comparative study of results in spelling, arithmetic, writing, etc., 
in 1846 and 1905, made in Springfield, Mass., it was found that even in 
the " Three R's," the school of the present time is far ahead of the old time 
school, — the percent correct being as follows: 

1846 1905 

Spelling 40.6 5^-2 

Arithmetic 29.4 65.5 

See New York School Journal. Vol. Lxxi, p. 589. 



FACTORS IN THE EDUCATION OF THE CHILD 187 

sations of the life of a consecrated school teacher, and it 
makes his sacrifice worth while even if the world fails 
suitably to recognize his efforts. 

But the school is clearly responsible for instruction in 
the conventionalities of education, such as, reading, spell- 
ing, arithmetic, geography, history, etc. If the school fails 
in this work the parents certainly should call it to account. 
The teacher is professionally prepared to do this work, the 
school is equipped for it at great expense, and time is set 
apart for its accomplishment. Intellectual instruction 
must ever occupy the chief part of the school's time, 
although the moral and physical must not be neglected, 
inasmuch as they are so essential to success. The 
school takes the child at five or six years of age, keeps 
him in charge for perhaps five hours a day, and superin- 
tends, in a measure, his intellectual work outside of these 
hours. This continues for a period of years. Because 
of the sacrifices made by parents, because of the expense 
devoted to the maintenance of schools, certain definite 
results may be demanded. While the school thus becomes 
the chief instrumentality of education, it may be again 
remarked that it is not the only one. 

Dr. Harris says:^ "It is important to know the exact 
province of the school, and to see that it is only one of the 
five forms of education that civilization provides for man. 
Much of the carping criticism leveled against schools, in 
times of financial distress or general social depression, is 
based on the assumption that the province of the school 
is all education instead of a small but important fraction 
of it. The school may do its share of correct education, 

' Rosenkranz, "Philosophy of Education," p. 58. 



l88 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

but it cannot correct the effects of neglect of family nurture, 
nor insure its youth against evil that will follow if civil 
society furnishes no steady employment, no opportunity 
for settled industry, and the State no training into con- 
sciousness of higher manhood by its just laws, and by offer- 
ing to the citizen a participation in the political process of 
legislation and administration, carefully guarding its forms 
so that its politics does not furnish a training in corruption. 
Nor can the school insure the future of its pupils unless 
the Church does its part in the education of the individuals 
of the community." 

Upon the school, then, is laid the duty of the systematic 
and scientific intellectual development of the child almost 
entirely, and of a large part of the physical and moral educa- 
tion, while the religious training must largely be left to 
other instrumentalities. 

3. Civil Society. — There are two aspects in which civil 
society acts as an educative influence: (i) in the trade 
or vocation that one follows, and (2) in the effect of 
the environment in which one lives. As to the 
vocation pursued, the school may lay the foundations 
which prepare the way for the final preparation for life 
work, but it cannot make the preparation itself. Manual 
training and trade schools do much to fit for mechanical 
pursuits, technical institutions give a higher form of prep- 
aration, but even they cannot complete one's education 
in this field. Their efficiency is made the greater by an 
equipment of tools, machines, and apparatus, which the 
student is required actually to use and become familiar with, 
but even these experiences, at best, can only prepare him 
to grapple more easily with the actual problems of his voca- 



FACTORS IN THE EDUCATION OF THE CHILD 189 

tion. He is still in his apprenticeship even after completing 
the most extended school course, and must serve under the 
direction of a master who has practiced in the real work of 
his calling. The same is true in the professional world. 
The best courses in the medical college must be supple- 
mented by hospital work. Otherwise the practitioner in 
his future experience would be seriously handicapped. 
The normal school course, however much of theory and 
practice it may offer, however careful it may be in present- 
ing to the young teachers the problems of education, at the 
most, can only open the way to that larger conception of 
their work which comes from actual experience in the 
schoolroom and in life. 

The vocation itself must be taken into account in sum- 
marizing educational effects. Thus the teachers of a 
school refused to recommend their boys as butcher's appren- 
tices, or as waiters in restaurants, not because these callings 
in themselves are dishonorable, but because they tend to 
brutalize and debase the nature. Some vocations ennoble 
the nature, broaden the mind, elevate the thoughts, sweeten 
the life, arouse the benevolent tendency, stimulate the 
spirit of altruism in man, while others produce the opposite 
results. Therefore the vocation is a most important and 
subtle educational influence. 

In the second place, society in its broader sense exerts 
a powerful influence upon human development. Parents 
recognize this in the selection of places of residence in 
which to rear their children. The atmosphere that pre- 
vades a community — social, intellectual, moral, religious 
— has a marked effect in forming the ideals of those brought 
up in its midst. To live in a community where there are 



IQO ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

superior educational advantages has a tendency in itself to 
foster a desire for learning. This is shown by the large 
number of those who go to college when they are brought 
up under the shadow of such an institution. Even the 
presence of a good high school, or a private academy, 
is a great stimulus to advanced education, and its effect 
is felt not only upon those who take its courses, but 
also upon their parents, and upon others who come 
within the radius of its influence. Many mechanics and 
laboring people of a college town are elevated by the work 
of the institution through free lectures, through the per- 
vading educational spirit, through contact with professors 
and other people of superior intelligence, and through the 
various activities that characterize a small college town. 
And through these influences many of them are led to have 
their children avail themselves of the opportunity that lies 
at their door, and which they have learned to appreciate. 

Then the moral tone of society has its effect upon the 
education of youth. If vice predominates so that it is 
popular, it becomes very easy to drop into evil practice. 
One has only to compare the situation in a new frontier town 
where the saloon, gambling dens, and other places of evil 
flourish, and where a low standard of moral living prevails, 
with a settled community where evil places are discoun- 
tenanced, where churches abound, and where a healthful 
moral sentiment rules. The pure life of every man and 
woman is an educative influence that cannot be measured, 
and the higher the social position occupied the wider is that 
influence. As the moral tone of the community is so 
important an agency in education, parents, when they are 
able to do so, select their places of residence with reference 



FACTORS IN THE EDUCATION OF THE CHILD 191 

to this condition fully as much as with reference to the 
physical health. The ideal place for a home, from an 
educational standpoint, is that in which there is not only 
healthful physical .environment, but also society of high 
moral tone, with suitable means of intellectual growth, 
together with the inspiring spiritual life exemplified by 
Christian manhood and womanhood. These influences, 
though subtle and difficult to measure, are none the less 
real and vital to education. 

4. The State. — It is not the purpose here to discuss the 
office of the State in assuming control of education, in build- 
ing schoolhouses, in training and licensing teachers, in 
supervising the schools, in directing and administering 
educational forces, and in taxing itself for the same. This 
is accepted as the duty of the State, and is recognized as 
essential in order to secure its own safety and perpetuity. 
Especially is this true in a republic where the final respon- 
sibility of government rests upon the individual citizen. 
In no country in the world is the burden of public education 
more cheerfully assumed than in ours. It is universally 
understood and accepted that our schools must be main- 
tained, their standard raised, and no expense spared to 
keep them in touch with the mighty progress of the age. 
Upon this question there is no dissenting voice, the nation 
is a unit. 

But there is another sense in which that institution which 
we call the State is a tremendous force in education. There 
is "the political education into citizensliip, resulting from 
obedience to laws and participation in making and sustain- 
ing them." By the enactment and enforcement of just 
laws, by inspiring respect for its authority, by demanding 



ig2 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

strict integrity and faithfulness on the part of its officials, 
by proper economy in public expenses, by dispensing the 
funds committed to it by the people wisely, honestly, and 
judiciously, the State gives an example and teaches lessons 
that have a positive influence upon the individual and upon 
the community. And where the State is wanting in these 
practices, evil lessons are correspondingly taught. Striking 
examples of the evil effects of pernicious municipal govern- 
ment unfortunately are not lacking in our land. The 
presence of a ring in a city government, the rule of " bosses, " 
the existence of dishonest men looting the public treasury 
for private ends, rewarding subservient followers and pun- 
ishing opponents, cannot fail not only to exert a most 
debasing influence upon public morals, but also to have 
a baneful effect upon the young. 

So long as public servants do not feel bound to render 
adequate service in the discharge of their duties the same 
as if employed by private concerns; so long as robbing the 
public is considered less a crime than robbing an individual; 
so long as a different standard of ethics exists with reference 
to a man's attitude towards public and private matters, a 
false notion of right and wrong prevails that is sure to work 
evil with the youth. When the notorious Tweed debauched 
all the branches of the government of a great city and seemed 
to prosper thereby, the worst effect was not upon those 
directly corrupted, nor upon the suffering public who were 
robbed, but upon the great mass of young people who were 
dazzled by the immediate success of a career of crime, and 
whose moral sense was vitiated thereby. Without doubt 
many a young man was led into evil practice by the prev- 
alence and success of crime on the part of those whose 



FACTORS IN THE EDUCATION OF THE CHILD 193 

duty it was to administer just laws. Righteousness in high 
places has a tendency to foster righteousness in the individ- 
ual, while an evil atmosphere in places of authority like- 
wise stimulates evil. And these things must certainly be 
reckoned with in education. 

Patriotism. — True patriotism can never be fostered in 
a community in which there is lacking strict integrity in the 
discharge of public duty, in which office-holders regard 
their places as opportunities for graft rather than a sacred 
trust committed to them in order that they may serve their 
country, and in which the standard of righteousness is 
other than that of God's law. It is useless to deliver 
orations on the Fourth of July boasting of our great country 
and our free institutions, it will not avail even to float the 
flag over the schoolhouses and sing patriotic songs in the 
schools with the expectation that patriotism will be the 
result, if the children are confronted with dishonest practices 
of office-holders and party leaders, such as buying votes, 
looting the treasury, corrupting legislation, and failing to 
render honest service. Civic righteousness must be the 
prevailing tendency if a healthful, genuine, and inspiring 
patriotism is to be fostered in the youth of our land. 

Again, the enactment and enforcement of just and whole- 
some laws have a salutary effect upon the ideals of a people. 
Respect for and obedience to the laws of a State is an 
important part of that education which prepares for good 
citizenship, and this is a lesson that American youth need 
to learn. The State owes it to itself in order to insure its 
stability and perpetuity to make only just and equitable 
laws, and to insist upon their honest and faithful enforce- 



194 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

ment. There are too many laws on the statute books that 
are wholly forgotten or totally ignored. As a consequence 
evasions of the law are common, not only by criminals and 
large corporations, but also by citizens of every class, and 
gross indifference to the requirements of laws that inter- 
fere with the wishes of individuals is far too common. This 
is a result of the negligent enforcement of law by those to 
whom this duty is committed until the sacredness of law 
has lost its force. As an example of this tendency, one has 
but to note the violations of speed laws concerning the 
automobile, by which the rights of many are disregarded 
and their lives endangered. 

Strict integrity in pubhc affairs as in private, faithful and 
honest discharge of public duty are essential to the well- 
being of the nation, and in securing such a condition the 
State becomes a mighty factor in the education of youth. 
If this is wanting, it will be practically impossible for the 
home and the school to counteract the evil emanating 
therefrom, and to implant in youth those high ideals of 
life and citizenship which are particularly essential in a 
republic, and which are necessary under any form of gov- 
ernment. Both the home and the school can inculcate 
the spirit of obedience to authority, but the State must 
supplement this by an honest and rigid performance of its 
duty. This is not an infringement of the liberty of the indi- 
vidual but rather a protection of it. The highest ideal of 
liberty is inculcated when the individual is taught to re- 
spect the rights of others and to submit to constituted 
authority. The disregard for law which some parents 
rather approvingly denominate as the "Young America" 
spirit, is neither wholesome nor sane. It is often the asser- 



FACTORS IN THE EDUCATION OF THE CHILD 195 

tion of a spirit of lawlessness that is not in accord with 
republican institutions, which are the highest form of gov- 
ernment because it is government "of the people, by the 
people, for the people." The true spirit of "Young 
America" is the embodiment of respect for the laws which 
the people themselves have made, and an appreciation of 
a dearly bought liberty. In the enjoyment of that liberty 
they must never forget that others, too, have equal rights 
with them. Thus the State in the broadest sense becomes 
an important factor in the education of a people. 

5. The Church. — We shall not here discuss the func- 
tion of religious education, that subject being treated in a 
later chapter. That religious education is essential to 
a complete manhood is universally accepted. A great 
responsibility lies upon the home in respect to religious 
training, for, in a State like ours, where Church and State 
are separate, the public school, supported by general taxa- 
tion, cannot undertake this work. The Church must 
supplement the religious training of the home, and, indeed, 
in many cases owing to parental neglect, it is obliged to 
assume practically the whole work of religious teaching. 

Attention is here called to the subtle, constant, ever- 
pervading, and powerful influence of the Church as an in- 
strument of education through its presence rather than 
through its instruction. Every church, every chapel, every 
Christian hospital or institution, every minister of the 
gospel, every consistent Christian man or woman, is a 
silent, mighty, and salutary element in the education of a 
people blessed with their presence. Who would live in 
a community destitute of these agencies! Everyman that 
comes in contact with them is consciously or unconsciously 



ig6 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

affected by them. Life and property are more secure, 
peace is less disturbed, happiness is assured, and the rights 
of the individual are guaranteed by the presence of the 
Church and what it represents. Remove the Church from 
a community and not only would vice and crime lift their 
monstrous heads, but general ignorance also would increase. 
A New York police commissioner recently said, "Were it 
not for religion and the faith behind it, there are not 
enough policemen in all the world to keep order in the city 
of New York." If tliis be so, every citizen is under obliga- 
tion to support religious institutions, even if he does not 
attend divine service. It reduces his taxes, restricts crime, 
and therefore adds materially to the financial value of his 
property, while it makes life safer. 

Every person living within the influence of the Church 
is affected thereby even if he never enters its sacred 
edifices. It engenders respect for the Sabbath, compels 
vice to hide its head, lessens crime, on the one hand; 
while on the other hand, it establishes institutions of 
mercy, elevates moral sentiment, gives correct ideas of 
justice, stimulates right living, encourages every good word 
and work, not to mention its more direct and holy influence 
upon the lives of those who accept its ministrations in their 
own personal experiences and lives. Hence this institution 
must be counted as one of the educational agencies both 
directly and indirectly, and its silent, ever-pervading, holy 
influence should be cherished and its work sustained. 

It may then be asserted that each of these factors — the 
home, the school, civil society, the State and the Church — 
must enter into the work of education, that each has its 
part to perform that cannot be undertaken by the others. 



FACTORS IN THE EDUCATION OF THE CHILD 197 

Let each do its work, none attempting to shirk responsi- 
bihty, but all working together in harmony, sustaining, 
upholding, strengthening one another. Then will result the 
highest type of manhood and womanhood, individuals 
well-rounded in character, efficient in their callings, con- 
scientious, moral, patriotic, and God-fearing. 

The school, upon which the principal burden of educa- 
tion is laid, is ready to discharge that responsibility accord- 
ing to the wisdom and strength given it. But it has a right 
to expect the aid and cooperation of each of these other 
factors. And if in individual cases the final result falls 
short of the ideal manhood, the teacher may justly feel that 
others must share the responsibility of that failure. 



Summary 

While upon the school is laid the chief responsibility of 
the education of youth, there are four other agencies that 
must share this work, namely, the home, civil society, the 
State, and the Church. Each must perform its own special 
function in a right manner in order that the children may 
develop into perfect manhood and womanhood. 



CHAPTER XIII 

PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT 

References. — Overton, Applied Physiology; Anderson, Gymnas- 
tics; Lukens, The School-Fatigue Question in Germany, Educational 
Review, March, 'g8; Burnham, Fatigue, New York Teachers' Mono- 
graph, Vol. Ill, No. 4; Spencer, Education; Maclaren, Physical 
Education; Lagrange, Physiology of Bodily Exercise; Wood, Brain- 
work and Overwork; U. S. Commissioner's Report for 1898, 

A Sound Mind in a Sound Body. — The first six years of 
the child's life are devoted chiefly to physical growth. The 
child must learn to walk, to use its hands, to control bodily 
activities; it must acquire regular habits of sleep, of taking 
food, of caring for its physical needs. Its physical develop- 
ment is brought about chiefly through play. Its very rest- 
lessness, its ceaseless activity is a means which nature pro- 
vides for developing the physical powers. The child that 
is inactive is ill either in body or mind, or both, for physical 
activity is a law for the normal being, a law which continues 
in force as long as the body is coming to maturity, and which 
is closely allied to intellectual growth all through life. 

Locke taught the principle, "A sound mind in a sound 
body," asserting that there can be no complete and success- 
ful mental development unless there is corresponding phys- 
ical development. While he himself struggled with disease 
all his life, he believed that far greater success would have 
crowned his efforts had he possessed a sound body. He 
therefore laid down a set of rules as to the food, sleep, 
physical exercise, and clothing of children. 

198 



PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT I99 

Montaigne writes, "I would have the youth's outward 
behaviour and mien and the disposition of his hmbs formed 
at the same time with his mind. It is not the soul, it is not 
the body, that we are training up, but a man, and we ought 
not to divide him." Rousseau says, "Exercise, therefore, 
not only the physical strength but also the senses that 
direct it, make the best possible use of each, and verify the 
impressions of one by those of another. To learn to think, 
therefore, we should learn to exercise our limbs, senses, 
organs, since these are the instruments of our intelligence, 
and in order to make the best use of these instruments it 
is necessary that the body which produced them should 
be robust and healthy." 

"The laws of health are the laws of God, and arc as 
binding as the Decalogue," asserts Colonel Parker. Dr. 
Munger declares that, "You will never get fine thought out 
of a coarse body. Nor less will you get a sound thought 
out of an unsound ' body. The bodily condition strikes 
through and shows itself in the quality of the thought. A 
vast amount of the poor, illogical, insipid, morbid, extrav- 
agant, pessimistic thought that finds its way into books 
and sermons and conversation has its origin in poor bodies 
and bad health. The body lies at the basis of success in 
all respects. A poor body means a poor life all the way 
up, even to the highest stages of spiritual life. Any relig- 
ious experience that is connected with a weak or diseased 
body is to be regarded with suspicion. There can be no 
healthy thought, no normal feeling, no sound judgment, no 
vigorous action, except in connection with a sound body." 

G. Stanley Hall believes that morals are largely depend- 
ent upon the condition of the body. "I plead strongly for 



200 ELEMENTARY PEDAG0G7 

physical education on the ground of good morals. I 
believe that the temptations that assail young people nowa- 
days are to quite an extent those that would not overcome 
them if their muscles were strong. They are of that insid- 
ious, corroding, undermining kind that are somehow or 
other so prone to creep in as the contractile tissues become 
relaxed and habitually flabby," 

The usefulness of that apostle of American education, 
Horace Mann, eminent though it certainly was, undoubt- 
edly was seriously impaired and his life shortened by a 
weak body, caused by ignorance of the laws of health. 
He says, "At college I was taught the motions of the heav- 
enly bodies, as if their keeping in their orbits depended 
upon my knowing them, while I was in profound ignorance 
of the laws of health of my own body. The rest of my 
life was, in consequence, one long battle with exhausted 
energies." 

"Mind and body should be viewed as the two well- 
fitting halves of a perfect whole, designed in true accord 
mutually to sustain and support each other, and each 
worthy of our unwearied care and unstinted attention, to 
be given with fuller faith and more reverent trust than they 
have who would argue that He who united in us our two- 
fold nature made them incompatible, inharmonious, 
opposed. No, no; even blind and blundering man does 
not yoke two oxen together to pull against each other. 
Mind and body can pull well together in the same team if 
the burden be fairly adjusted." * 



* Maclaren, "Physical Education," p. 34. 



PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT 201 

Nourishment. — If the child comes to school ill-fed and 
ill-nourished, it is certain that he cannot perform the tasks 
that may be expected of one in normal condition. It 
has been observed that in times of great strikes, when 
there is a scarcity of food in the home, and uncertainty 
as to the necessary supplies in the families of the strikers, 
that there is a marked diminution in the ability of their 
children to perform the ordinary school requirements. 
Doubtless the lawlessness and agitated state of mind pre- 
vailing, affects not only the discipline of the school, but 
also the ability to study. But the chief cause of the falling 
off in work is found to be the depleted condition of the 
body. Children of the extremely poor are ever placed at 
a great disadvantage from this cause. London, Paris, 
Berlin, and other great cities provide food for children of 
the poor, in order that they may be able to do better school 
work. It is recognized that it is useless to expect good 
intellectual work if the body is poorly nourished, hence 
the expenditure of public funds for food is ultimately an 
economy in the matter of education. 

Splendid school buildings, modern apparatus, efficient 
teachers call for large expenditure of money. All of these 
things avail nothing if the child is not in condition to be 
taught. Therefore the State may well consider the ques- 
tion of the physical ability of the child to study as depend- 
ent upon nourishment, as it already considers the matter 
of the eyesight, and contagious diseases among children. 

That weakness of the body affects the mind, is shown 
by the decreased mental power caused by severe illness, in 
feeble-minded children, and in forms of insanity. Long- 
continued illness, like a case of typhoid fever, pneumonia, 



202 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

or consumption, not only reduces the vigor of the body, 
but also that of the mind, which shows itself by peevish- 
ness, childishness, and other evidences that do not appear 
when the body is sound. Mental power returns only 
with the restoration of health. In the case of the feeble- 
minded, it may be stated that the length of their lives is 
generally inversely to the degree of their weak-mindedness. 
Idiots are usually short-lived. Authorities state that the 
average length of life of those classed as feeble-minded is 
about twenty-one years, while that of mankind generally 
is about forty. And the efforts of institutions for the feeble- 
minded in stimulating their minds, as well as caring for 
their bodies, have resulted in increasing the length of their 
lives by about three years within the last two decades. One 
rarely meets a person destitute of mind, an idiot, who 
reaches maturity. 

The same law holds in insanity. Violently insane per- 
sons seldom live more than four years, usually much less 
than this, while mild cases may live many years. It is 
certain that there is a close relationship between the mental 
and the physical activities, each mutually supporting and 
affecting the other. Of course there are exceptional cases 
where these laws do not hold. Rosenkranz remarks, 
"Mens Sana in cor pore sano is correct as a pedagogical 
maxim, but false in the judgment of individual cases; 
because it is possible, on the one hand, to have a healthy 
mind in an unhealthy body, and, on the other hand, an 
unhealthy mind in a healthy body. Nevertheless, to strive 
after the harmony of soul and body is the material condi- 
tion of all normal activity. The development of intelli- 
gence presupposes physical health." 



PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT 203 

The care of the human body is then essentially an educa- 
tional question. Knowledge of food, clothing, cleanliness, 
fatigue, and rest, as well as other matters pertaining to the 
body should be possessed by the teacher and taught to chil- 
dren. While works on physiology and hygiene must be 
consulted for details, the subject is so important to peda- 
gogy that a discussion of elementary principles will not be 
out of place. 

I. Food. — The American people generally are ignorant 
as to the nature, use, and character of foods. Hot-breads, 
prepared breakfast foods, sweetmeats, and mixtures totally 
incongruous and harmful are swallowed with impunity. 
As a result, perverted and unnatural appetites are created, 
indigestion invited, and stomach and intestinal disorders 
have become most common. These conditions invite 
gross forms of intemperance in eating and drinking in order 
to satisfy the unnatural craving that has been created. 
Most states in the Union require instruction in the public 
schools as to the nature and effect of alcohol upon the 
human system, A much more salutary effect would be 
produced directly in furthering the cause of temperance, as 
well as in establis'ning the health of the people, if such teach- 
ing were preceded, accompanied, and supplemented by 
intelligent and practical instruction as to the nature and 
use of foods. For there is intemperance in eating as well 
as in drinking, possibly fully as serious when one considers 
the far more general character of the former, and that it 
very often leads to the latter. 

Such intelligent instruction is carried on in every school 
in Germany. • I once witnessed the instruction given to 
a class of six-year-old boys in Leipsic on the subject of 



204 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

bread. The teacher asked, *'How old must bread be before 
it is eaten?" The answer was, "Not less than twenty- 
four hours." It is instruction of this character that has 
taught the German people to abstain from the use of 
fresh bread, and of other harmful foods, as well as to 
know the nature of foods that may be mixed and those 
that may not be. As a consequence of such instruction, 
one rarely meets with a dyspeptic among that people, 
and gross forms of drunkenness are by no means so com- 
mon as in this country. The use of candies and sweet- 
meats is discouraged, the amount of sugar consumed being 
less than one-fourth per capita of that consumed in this 
country. 

Instruction should be given not only as to the kind of 
food essential to good health, but also as to the quantity. 
Physicians assert that most people eat too much rather than 
too little. Without doubt the death or permanent disabil- 
ity of so many men in middle life is owing, not so much to 
the strenuous life they live, as to the eating of highly- 
seasoned, incongruous, and unsuited foods, and eating 
them at the highest possible rate of speed. In this respect 
we need to learn the lesson of the "simple hfe, " thereby 
increasing the capacity for labor, lessening the ravages of 
disease, fortifying the system against its attacks, and thus 
materially lengthening life. 

The purpose here is to call attention to the necessity of 
such instruction as a part of practical education. Surely 
there is none more practical, for the right food is necessary 
for health, and without health it is impossible to reach the 
highest intellectual development. The details as to foods 
will be found in every good physiology; happily recent 



PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT 20$ 

works on this subject are giving attention to this vital 
question/ 

2. Clothing. — The primary purpose of clothing is to 
protect the body against the loss of heat and keep it at 
normal temperature. Hence the material chosen should 
be such as to prevent the escape of bodily warmth in cold 
weather, and allow it in warm weather. Wool, being a 
poor conductor of heat, is therefore more suitable for the 
winter, and linen and cotton being good conductors are 
selected for summer wear. " The amount of clothing which 
one needs depends largely upon a person's occupation and 
previous habits. A day laborer seldom needs an over- 
coat, but works in his shirt sleeves, while a clerk would be 
chilled were he to step outdoors without extra wraps. It 
is a mistake to think that by exposure to the cold one can 
always become hardened to it. It is true only when a 
person takes active exercise and lives out of doors contin- 
uously. The body cannot adapt itself to the sudden changes 
from hours spent in a warm room to an hour or two in the 
cold air. Enough clothing should be worn so that the 
body does not feel chilled on entering the cold air." Cloth- 
ing, like food, is essential to keep the body at its normal 
temperature, without which health cannot be maintained. 

Every individual should understand the danger of 
exposure to draughts. Colds are taken, pneumonia invited, 
and diseases contracted which may be difficult of removal, 
through sitting in a draught. A few moments in a draught 
may do the deadly damage, while consequences arising 
from a stuffy room are not so immediate. Because the 

* I call especial attention to Chapters XII and XIII of Overton's "Applied 
Physiology, Advanced," on "Animal and Vegetable Food." 



206 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

draught is pleasant to one suffering from heat, careless and 
inconsiderate persons take chances that often involve 
later suffering. Two mothers with sleeping babes in their 
arms, entered a trolley-car about nine o'clock one October 
evening. They sat with the windows open in front of 
them and a perfect hurricane blowing upon the faces of the 
babies when the car was in motion. They seemed to be 
utterly ignorant of the fact that they were exposing their 
offspring to deadly danger. The ignorance and indiffer- 
ence of most people in regard to tliis matter are appalling. 
Children should be trained to avoid draughts whether in a 
car, a pubhc hall, the home, or the schoolroom. Especially 
dangerous are draughts when one is freely perspiring. A 
moment's exposure will often result in a cold. Hence care- 
ful atliletes cover themselves with wraps whenever a respite 
in a game occurs, even though it be but for one or two 
minutes' duration. 

3. Cleanliness. — Rosenkranz says, " Cleanliness is a vir- 
tue to which children should be accustomed for the sake of 
their physical well-being, as well as because, in a moral point 
of view, it is of great significance." It teaches good orderand 
system, it inculcates a sense of fitness of surroundings, and 
is disturbed when things are out of harmony. It is very essen- 
tial that the schoolroom be kept neat and clean, that the 
walls be decorated, that school books and school apparatus 
be taken care of. There are aesthetic as well as hygienic 
reasons for keeping text-books clean and properly covered. 
Attention should be given to the cleanliness of person and 
dress of pupils. No school can secure the highest educa- 
tional development, especially from the standpoint of 
morals, that fails to inculcate habits of cleanliness. And 



PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT 20/ 

wise instruction in this matter will not only lead the pupils 
to come to school clean and decent, but will also affect 
their home habits and life. Where the sentiment of the 
school demands neat but inexpensive clotliing, and clean- 
liness of person, every child, whatever be his home environ- 
ment, will be affected thereby and gradually acquire the 
prevailing habits. Definite instruction as to the manner of 
keeping clean and the physical and moral benefits to be 
derived therefrom, should be patiently given to all children, 
in addition to the good example set. The school that 
neglects this duty cannot attain to a high standard of 
morals. Every school should be provided with such ac- 
commodations as modesty and decency require, and it is 
incumbent upon the teacher to insist upon strictest cleanli- 
ness for hygienic as well as moral reasons. 

4. Fatigue and Rest. — A careful study of fatigue has 
revealed some notable results. For instance, Wagner found 
that the effects of fatigue produced by various subjects may 
be represented as follows: Mathematics (higher), 100; 
Latin, 91; Greek, 90; history, 85; geography, 85 ; arithme- 
tic, French, and German, 82; natural science, 80; drawing 
and religion, 77. This table would suggest that as a change 
from one subject to an easier one serves, temporarily at 
least, to lessen and relieve fatigue, the arrangement of the 
daily schedule of work should be based upon the principle 
of alternating the easy with the difficult subjects. It cer- 
tainly proves that the arrangement of the program of 
studies requires careful thought.* 

There are certain signs of fatigue that are manifest to the 

^ See chapter on "The Daily Program " in "Foundations of Education," 



208 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

casual observer. Some one has outlined these signs as 
follows: ''Physical signs — (i) angles of mouth depressed, 
(2) furrows across the forehead, (3) eyes wandering, (4) 
coloration beneath the eyes, (5) white lines around the 
mouth, (6) bluish spots on cheek and neck, (7) pulse un- 
usually slow or rapid, (8) frequent attacks of headache, 
(9) awkward position of body, (10) neurasthenic voice, (11) 
unnatural action, (12) general appearance of depression. 
Mental signs — (i) lack of ability to give attention, (2) 
weakening of perception, (3) unreadiness and inaccuracy 
of judgment, (4) diminishing power of insight, (5) loss of 
sensitiveness, (6) lack of self-control, (7) lessened work- 
rate, (8) lengthened reaction time, (9) deep sense of misery 
in the morning, (10) one or more insistent ideas which can- 
not be thrown off." 

It must be admitted that these manifestations, especially 
of the latter, are not always chargeable to fatigue. They 
may be caused by lack of interest, by the dull manner and 
want of enthusiasm of the teacher, by an unnatural method 
of presentation of the subject, by ignorance of the subject- 
matter on the part of the teacher, or by an inherent dislike 
for the subject on the part of the pupil, which causes him 
to seem bored. But generally speaking, the signs above 
given are evidences of fatigue. 

True fatigue must not be considered as unnatural, or even 
undesirable. It presupposes activity, wMch is essential to 
human development, both physical and mental. Proper and 
healthful fatigue is followed by sweet and refreshing sleep. 
The laborer who drags his tired limbs to liis home at even- 
tide after a day's hard work rarely suffers from insomnia. 
The child that has been active all day in play falls into 



PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT 209 

slumber as soon as he touches his bed at night. Over- 
exertion and over-weariness are to be guarded against, but 
not that healthful weariness which is the natural result of 
physical or mental activity. Every one should work enough 
to get tired. The body will be made healthier thereby, the 
mind happier and more contented, and rest sweeter. But 
overwork exacts an inevitable penalty. It may be sleepless- 
ness — "I am too tired to sleep," is a common expression; 
it may break down the health, it may bring the victim pre- 
maturely to the grave. A sure test as to the sufficiency of 
sleep is found in the answer to the question, "Are you 
rested when you get up in the morning?" Many a man 
has succumbed to the inexorable laws of nature far too early 
in life because he has "burned the candle at both ends," 
because he has set too hard a pace. Broken health or 
death is the fate of many who might have been vigorous 
and useful for many years had they obeyed the laws of 
health, husbanded their strength, and allowed fatigue to be 
followed by suitable and complete rest. 

Again, it has been remarked that " an understanding of 
the laws governing overwork, and the penalties of over- 
exertion should be of the utmost value to every student and 
worker. When a man is tired he has, either by inactivity 
or over-activity, committed a chemical, physiological, and 
psychological violation of the laws of the human economy, 
and is then in no condition to withstand the wear and tear 
of life. Fatigue is the result of labor, and as such is a 
periodic symptom with which every healthy person should 
be familiar. It is one of the laws of organic life that 
periods of relaxation shall succeed periods of activity. 
The heart itself is normally in repose for about one-third 



2IO ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

of the time consumed by each beat — a fact in which 
there is something peculiarly suggestive, since it is generally 
agreed that about one-third of the twenty-four hours 
should be devoted to sleep. Life itself is made up of a 
series of vibrations, in which tension and rest succeed 
each other. The heart vibrates about seventy times per 
minute; the vibrations of the respiratory organs occur 
about sixteen times within the same period; while the 
vibrations of the whole organism may be said to complete 
their cycle once in the twenty-four hours. 

"An abnormal fatigue, a state approacliing exhaustion, 
occurs when one attempts to alter nature's rhythm, when 
the hours of tension are made to encroach upon those 
which should be devoted to rest, when brain, and muscle, 
and nerve are driven to the furthest exertion. Fatigue 
of the kind known as over-training results, in the case of 
the athlete, in heart weakness and shortness of breath; 
while the long-continued fatigue occasioned by excessive 
application to study, or to business or professional pursuits, 
results often in nervous prostration, and not infrequently 
lays the foundation for paralysis." 

A change of occupation may rest some muscles that have 
been overworked while it brings into activity other muscles 
that have been idle. A similar result is also true in mental 
work. But absolute relief from general fatigue can only 
be obtained by rest. 

Dr. Lukens says, "Change of work in school is, never- 
theless, undoubtedly advantageous. In the first place, the 
interruptions give a time for recreation ; secondly — and 
this is the most important reason — the school subjects do 
not all require an equal effort of attention and an equal 



PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT 211 

expenditure of energy. After a difificult lesson an easy 
lesson will afford an opportunity for a partial recovery from 
the fatigue previously produced. The change of work, 
therefore, must not be merely a change of subject, or even 
a change of occupation, but a change in the difficulty of the 
task. Easy and difficult must alternate. Thirdly, we may 
obtain refreshment by change of work, on accpunt of the 
fresher mood with which we turn to new work. Of course 
this change must not be too frequent or sudden; in that case 
it becomes an unpleasant disturbance, owing to the diffi- 
culty we feel in going from one mood to another. In order 
to work well we must gain the necessary absorption in 
the subject-matter, our feelings must harmonize, and our 
thoughts directed toward the object. In this way we 
become 'warmed up' to a subject, and tliis warmth is all 
lost when we go over to an entirely different subject." 

As sleep is the only complete restoration for fatigue, it 
may be asked, "How much sleep is necessary?" Doubt- 
less some people require more sleep than others. A Napo- 
leon may be satisfied with a daily average of four hours, 
while many others need ten. Children, who are active, 
need more sleep than adults. The average person needs 
about eight hours, and time devoted to sleep must by no 
means be considered wasted. It restores the body to its 
normal strength, refreshes and reinvigorates all the facul- 
ties, and prepares for the activities of a new day. Sleep 
is a great, an indescribable blessing, and the proper time 
devoted to it should not be begrudged. 

As to the application of these principles to the school, 
Griesbach demands " (i) No scientific work in the after- 
noons; (2) later beginning of the school in the morning 



212 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

(never before eight, the German schools often begin at 
seven in the summer); (3) abohshment, as far as possible, 
of school examinations; (4) reduction of home-work, and 
especially less mechanical learning by heart." 

5. Gymnastics. — Left to itself the body is apt to ac- 
quire unnatural, and perhaps uncouth proportions, and 
lack that grace which is an evidence of perfect self-control. 
Therefore the physical body must receive special training. 
The whole man is to be educated, and if the body is not 
properly developed all the other powers are affected, as 
has already been shown. Gymnastics seeks to give the 
body grace of movement, self-control, and complete self- 
command. Indeed, Rosenkranz well remarks,^ "The 
fundamental idea of gymnastics must always be that the 
spirit shall rule over its body and make this an energetic and 
docile servant of the will. Strength and adroitness must 
unite and become confident skill. Strength, carried to its 
extreme, produces the athlete; adroitness, to its extreme, 
the acrobat. Education must avoid both. All gigantic 
strength, as well as acrobatic skill, fit only for display, must 
be discouraged and so too must be the idea of teaching gym- 
nastics with the motive of utility; e.g. that by swimming 
one may save his life when he falls into the water, etc. 
Among other things, utility may be the consequence; but 
the principle in general must always be the necessity of the 
spirit subjecting its bodily organism to the condition of a 
perfect instrument, so that it may ever find it equal to the 
execution of its will." 

Physical exercises in general are usually classified as 
follows: 

* "Philosophy of Education," p. 65. 



PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT 213 

a. Exercises of strength, requiring strong effort of the 
will, fixation of the chest, and straining of the muscles to 
the utmost. They include wrestling, and lifting of heavy 
weights, and are unsuited to children. 

b. Exercises of skill, intended to train the power of 
coordination; they involve brain and nerve activity, with 
more or less muscular exertion. They include compound 
movements in calisthenics, work with apparatus, such as, 
the vaulting horse and horizontal bar, and are excellent 
for all ages up to and including the early years of maturity. 
They are carried to the extreme in manual training, per- 
forming on musical instruments and handicraft work 
generally. 

c. Exercises of quickness, requiring the repetition of 
similar movements in the shortest possible time, resulting 
in very great activity of heart and lungs, and, when 
carried too far, temporarily exhausting these organs. 
They include racing in all its forms, running, climbing, 
etc. In moderate degrees, they are excellent for children. 

d. Exercises of endurance, requiring a moderate degree 
of exertion in movements kept up for a long period. 
They include such exercises as long distance racing. 
They are exhaustive in their effects, particularly upon the 
will, and are unsuited to children. 

e. Exercises of the attention, requiring a small amount 
of muscular effort, but making great demand on the 
attention. As illustration of these may be mentioned 
marching in its various forms, and the learning of new 
movements of all kinds. For persons that are hard 



214 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

worked mentally, these exercises should be employed 
sparingly. 

/. Exercises of alertness, involving quick response to 
varying conditions. They include most games, especially of 
a competitive nature. They are particularly enjoyed by 
children, and are beneficial for almost all years, up to 
middle life. 

While there is some over-lapping in the different divis- 
ions in this classification, the scheme outlined is the one 
generally followed by the leaders in the department of 
physical training at the present time. 

By means of attention to food, clothing, cleanliness, and 
proper physical exercise, a better understanding of the laws 
of health, and the enforcement of sanitary regulations,- the 
death rate has been considerably reduced. In 1867, the 
death rate of New York City was 32.27 persons in the 
thousand. In 1904 it was 18.2, being a saving of 14.07 
persons to the thousand, or nearly one-half. This would 
be 56,280 lives saved each year in a city of 4,000,000 
inhabitants. A like saving in the 80,000,000 population of 
the whole country would mean that over 1,000,000 persons 
who go down to untimely graves would be spared, to say 
nothing of the increased efficiency of the whole population 
because of more vigorous health. Surely the problem of 
physical training, as well as education in the laws of 
health, becomes of mighty import, not only to educators, 
but also to statesmen, philanthropists, and public econo- 
mists everywhere. 



PHYSICAL DEVELOPMENT 21$ 

Summary 

I. Intellectual and moral development is closely connected 
with the development of the body. Hence specific instruc- 
tion upon all matters that affect the physical being should be 
included in every system of education. Especial attention 
should be given to fatigue and rest. While change of occu- 
pation may afford temporary relief sleep is necessary to 
obtain absolute rest. 

II. The fundamental principle of gymnastics is that " the 
spirit shall rule over its body and make this an energetic and 
docile servant of the will.^^ 



CHAPTER XIV 

INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT 

References. — Home, Philosophy of Education; Tompkins, 
Philosophy of Teaching; Froebcl, Education of Man; Bowen, 
Froebel and Education Through Self- Activity; Rosmini, Method in 
Education; Parker, Talks on Pedagogics. 

To many the whole conception of education is embraced 
in the development of the intellect. We have shown that 
the whole man must be educated. Without doubt, how- 
ever, the work of the school is centered in the intellectual 
development of the child, and upon this idea is focused all 
other discipline, even though it be recognized that the 
highest end of education is moral character. 

Self-Activity. — The first essential to success is the 
arousing of the child's self-activity. Unless tliis is done 
there can be no education. Rosenkranz well remarks,^ 
"All apparatus is dead, all arrangement of no avail, all 
teaching fruitless, if the pupil does not by his free self- 
activity receive into his inner self what one teaches him, 
and then make it his own property." 

Dr. Hervey, in discussing "The Doctrine of Self- Activity," 
says:^ "Of all the conceptions that give aid and comfort to 
the teacher, that of self-activity is one of the most inspiring 
and fruitful. The notion is a fundamental one in pliiloso- 
phy and psychology, and it is therefore basal in educa- 

^ "Ph/tosophy of Education," p. 115. 
' New York, "Teachers' Monograph," Oct. 1901. 
216 



INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT 21/ 

tion. This fact was never more clearly recognized than it is 
to-day. In modern works on philosophy, we meet again 
and again such expressions as these : ' Primal being can be 
conceived only as self-activity;' 'The soul is self-activity.' " 

"Imitation, interest, and effort," says Horne,^ "this trin- 
ity of wonderful words, each representing a way to which 
the self-active mind works out its own growth, almost 
covers the theoretical part of contemporary educational 
discussions." Arnold Tompkins remarks, "Whenever 
teaching is found to be dead it is because the teacher strives 
to induce action from without, instead of utilizing the self- 
activity of the pupil. Witness, for example, the dire dis- 
tress of the teacher in striving to secure oral or written 
expression from the pupil when there is no inner motive 
to expression! " 

No apostle of education has laid so much stress upon the 
principle of self-activity as Froebel. He asserts that^ 
"The prescriptive, interfering education, indeed, can be 
justified only on two grounds; either because it teaches the 
clear, living thought, self-evident truth, or because it holds 
up a life whose ideal value has been established in experi- 
ence. But, where self-evident, living, absolute truth rules, 
the eternal principle itself reigns, as it were, and will on 
this account maintain a passive, following character. For 
the living thought, the eternal living principle as such de- 
mands and requires free self-activity and self-determina- 
tion on the part of man, the being created for freedom in 
the image of God." 

Bo wen cites from Froebel as follows: ' " Instruction begins 

' " Philosophy of Education, " p. 175. 

* "Education of Man," p. 11. 

' "Froebel and Education Through Self-Activity," p. 29. 



2l8 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

in the fifth year of the child's Hfe by leading him simply 
to find himself (get the command of his senses), to distin- 
guish himself from external things and these from one 
another, to know clearly what he sees in his nearest sur- 
roundings, and at the same time to designate it by the right 
word, to enjoy his first knowledge as the first contribution 
towards his future intellectual treasure. Self-activity of 
mind is the first law of instruction ; therefore the kind of in- 
struction given here does not make the young mind a strong- 
box, into which, as early as possible, all kinds of coins of 
the most different values and coinage, such as are now 
current in the world, are stuffed; but slowly, continuously, 
gradually, and always inwardly, that is, according to a con- 
nection founded on the nature of the mind, the instruction 
goes on without any tricks . . . from the simple to the 
complex, from the concrete to the abstract, so well adapted 
to the child and liis needs that he goes as readily to his 
learning as to his play." 

It may be stated, then, that the first essential of intellectual 
development is to stimulate self-activity on the part of the 
person to be taught. Until this is accomplished all effort 
at instruction, all skill in method, all zeal, enthusiasm, and 
learning on the part of the teacher is in vain. 

• Attention. — Before the child can be stimulated to intel- 
ligent and proper self-activity his attention must be gained. 
Without this no instruction can be given, no knowledge 
acquired. It is not sufficient to demand attention, the 
interest of the pupil must be aroused. Without interest 
there can be no real attention. The method of stimulating 
interest will depend upon the maturity of the children, the 



INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT 219 

subject to be taught, and the individuality of the teacher. 
There are certain general principles, however, that should 
be borne in mind, which hold true in all cases. These will 
be considered later. 

But what is meant by attention ? Rosmini defines it as 
follows: "Attention is that power of the mind which directs 
the intellect to one object rather than another; attention 
itself, again, being directed by sensible wants." ^ Hughes 
says,^ "Attention is the direction of the powers of the mind 
to the impressions received through the senses or to subjects 
of reflection." 

Colonel Parker very clearly sets forth that, "Attention is a 
process of mental or conscious action stimulated, excited, 
aroused, induced, or caused by the attributes of external 
objects upon consciousness." Professor James remarks, 
"To excite a pupil's attention and hold it is the greatest task 
of the teacher's life. Our ability to remember a thing de- 
pends on the attention we give to it when under considera- 
tion. There are many external methods of awakening 
attention, but to gain the interest is more effective. You 
will never gain attention by demanding it, unless you 
awaken the child's interest. The young child as a rule 
has very little native interest. The teacher must arouse 
and hold it by action — experiments, anecdotes, diagrams, 
drawings, etc. 

"How can we get the child interested when these means 
cannot be used? There is one rule; you must connect the 
new matter with some other matter that you know the child 
is already interested in. Associate the uninteresting new 

^ "Method in Education," p. 50. 

? "Securing and Retaining Attention," p. 4. 



220 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

with the interesting old and the whole will become interest- 
ing. This is the abstract principle, but the application is 
by no means easy. Here the teacher's native tact, ingenu- 
ity, and invention are demanded. It is this abihty that 
marks the born teacher." 

Superintendent Brooks gives nine suggestions for securing 
attention: " (i) Manifest an interest in the subject you 
are teaching. (2) Be clear in thought and ready in expres- 
sion. (3) Speak in your natural tone, with variety and flexi- 
bility of voice. (4) Let your position before the class be 
usually a standing one. (5) Teach without a book as far 
as possible. (6) Assign subjects promiscuously when neces- 
sary. (7) Use concrete methods of instruction when pos- 
sible. (8) Vary your method, as variety is attractive to 
children. (9) Determine to secure attention at all haz- 
ards." 

Ability to give attention may be taken as a measure of 
intellectual power. Sir Isaac Newton ascribed liis superior- 
ity over other men in intellectual power to his ability to 
concentrate his attention. There are four steps that dis- 
tinguish the powers of attention, namely, isolation, analysis, 
abstraction, and the essential relations of analysis and 
abstraction to each other. Let us consider these steps 
separately. 

I. Isolation. — The object to which attention is called 
is separate from others so that it stands out by itself. Thus 
a tree standing in an open field is an object of greater atten- 
tion than it would be in a forest ; a man dressed in fantastic 
costume parades the streets as an advertising medium — 
his dress isolates him from others and he is able to attract 
attention to his wares; an advertiser employs skill in setting 



INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT 221 

type so as to catch the eye of the reader, one or two isolated 
articles standing out prominently; the show-window or 
parlor of a millinery establishment exhibits only a few typi- 
cal hats separated from each other on standards, thus 
attracting attention to the individual. The purpose of 
advertising is to attract attention, and the secret of it lies 
in the ability to employ the principle of isolation. Ex- 
amples might be multiplied showing that the first essential 
in winning attention is to isolate the object from all others, 
and the same law holds good in intellectual as well as in 
material matters. If an exercise or a thought is to be con- 
sidered, it must first be set apart from all others. The 
teacher must therefore exclude all other matter but the 
particular thing to be considered, present this in the most 
vivid manner, and employ concrete illustrations with young 
children. Thus may attention in its simplest form be 
gained. 

2. Analysis. — When the attention to the individual 
isolated tiling has been gained, the next step is to analyze 
it into its parts. Thus if an advertisement catches the eye, 
wins the attention, it will be read to see what is offered. 
The description of the article advertised, its price, by whom 
offered, etc., will be taken into account, the attention being 
intensified in proportion to the needs of the reader and 
to the skill of the appeal made. Or the hat that gains 
attention as it stands isolated is examined as to its shape, 
its trimmings, its color, its materials, its style. The tree 
standing alone in the field is noticed as to its shape, its 
foliage, its kind. The street advertiser, dressed perhaps 
as "Uncle Sam," is noticed as to his tall hat, his striped 
trousers, his ribbon-tailed coat, and then to the thing he is 



222 ELEMENTAPY PEDAGOGY 

advertising. The attention of a class is called to a picture 
which is first seen as a whole. Then the various features 
of the picture may be brought out by analysis. Or a sen- 
tence is placed on the blackboard, read by the class, then 
its subject, predicate, modifiers, etc., pointed out. Thus 
it will be found that the second step in the process of atten- 
tion is analysis, and but little material will be fixed in the 
mind if this step is not taken. 

3. Abstraction. — It has been shown elsewhere (p. 43) 
that an ultimate aim in the process of instruction is to bring 
the child to a conception of the abstract notion; that to 
stop short of this aim is to fail to establish the relations of 
knowledge; that this end is essential in order to fix the mate- 
rial in the mind so that it may be used unconsciously, 
habitually, masterfully; and that this power distinguishes 
man from the lower creatures. In the process of atten- 
tion, having analyzed the object with its parts, the next 
step is to "seize upon one of the distinctions found by 
analysis" and proceed to abstraction. As a concrete illus- 
tration we may once more refer to the hat. A feature of 
its trimmings, as the flowers, may be considered in the 
abstract as to their color, beauty, faithfulness in represent- 
ing genuine flowers, etc. The same may be true of any 
feature of the street advertiser, "Uncle Sam," that may be 
thought of without any relation to the whole; also 
the object of the fantastic costume, which is to get 
the attention fixed upon the thing advertised, may be 
thought of independent of the advertiser. A word in the 
sentence analyzed may be thought of as a noun, a verb, an 
adjective. A class may have analyzed the celebrated paint- 
ing, "Washington Crossing the Delaware." Washington 



INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT 223 

can be thought of as a great historic character without 
regard to the picture; the other occupants of the boats, the 
blocks of ice, the peril, each of these can be considered in 
the abstract. A whole train of events — the battle of Tren- 
ton immediately following, its effect upon the cause of the 
patriots, Washington's subsequent career, the establish- 
ment and growth of the nation, its effect upon the world's 
history, all these ideas naturally flow out of the incident 
portrayed by the artist. Thus the attention awakened by the 
picture comes to have a breadth and meaning far beyond 
anything that the picture itself contains. 

4. Finding relations. — The final act of attention con- 
sists in a synopsis, a summary of the whole, an establish- 
ment of the relations that exist between the parts. Dr. 
Harris speaks of this point as a "process of synthetic 
thought, a grasping together, a comprehension — a higher 
activity of the mind — a fourth potence of the power of 
attention." We may illustrate tliis process by once more 
employing the examples already cited and proceeding a 
step further. In the picture "Wasliington Crossing the 
Delaware," a whole train of events is suggested, as already 
pointed out. By reflection the attention is easily led to a 
great many relations and circumstances that flow out of 
the event pictured, such as, the battle which immediately 
followed, its good effect upon the cause of the patriots, 
and the corresponding disastrous effect upon our enemy 
who spoke of it as "that unfortunate affair at Trenton." 
Employing again the illustration concerning the choice of 
a hat, its suitability of style, shape, color, etc., to the wants 
of the person considering it may be spoken of as the em- 
ployment of attention to determine the relations. To quote 



224 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

once more from Dr. Harris/ "Reflection, or attention in its 
higher powers, discovers necessary relations, and forms 
more adequate ideas of truth. Isaac Newton saw the sun 
and planets as one gravitating whole — a system — and 
his knowledge certainly came nearer the truth than did 
the knowledge of previous astronomers who merely knew 
the sun and planets in their separate existence. In going 
into the truth of objects, the mind goes into itself at the 
same time. Psychology points backward to the great fact 
that reason made both the world and the human intellect." 

Practical Suggestions as to Attention. — It is useless to 
attempt to teach without attention. If a teacher is willing 
to go on with the recitation with only a part of the class 
attentive, he will soon find that all are inattentive and hence 
there is no instruction being given. Children soon learn 
whether or not the teacher is oblivious to his surroundings 
or whether he will not teach unless all attend to the matter 
in hand. Nothing is so fatal to successful instruction or to 
good order as want of attention. It is useless to demand 
attention without providing the means to win and hold it. 
When this cannot be done, it is better to close the recita- 
tion. 

The following suggestions may be of use, especially in 
dealing with children. 

I . See to the material conditions. — It is impossible to 
hold the attention of a class very long if the surroundings 
are unfavorable. A high temperature or bad air in the 
room, the flapping of window-curtains, draughts, direct sun- 
shine, uncomfortable seats, mischievous neighbors, may 
* Rosenkranz, "Philosophy of Education," p. 72. 



INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT 22$ 

defeat the effort to gain attention. A moment spent at 
the outset in regulating these things will prove to be time 
well spent. Indeed, unless these conditions are favorable 
there is little use in beginning the lesson. 

2. Proper attitude must he required. — Children should 
be required to sit or stand erect, facing the teacher and in 
as close proximity to him as possible. It is difficult to hold 
the interest of a class located a long distance away, espe- 
cially if other pupils are at work in the same room. It may 
be said that the effectiveness of the instruction varies in- 
versely with the distance between the teacher and the class. 
While it is useless to demand attention, it is not useless to 
require a prouer attitude in class. 

3. Awaken the interest. — Having attended to these pre- 
liminary matters, the teacher may proceed with the instruc- 
tion. The first thing necessary to gain attention is interest. 
"Interest," says Dr. Johnson, "is the mother of attention; 
attention is the mother of memory; to get memory, get her 
mother and her grandmother," If, then, the pupil is to 
remember the truths taught, his attention must be gained 
through awakening his interest. With young children this 
is done chiefly by means of concrete illustration. The child 
is interested in what appeals to his senses. Nor does the 
use of illustration as a means of stimulating interest cease 
with children, as we have seen elsewhere. The preacher 
employs it to enliven his sermon and to enforce the truths 
he would teach; the lawyer uses it in his pleas in court; 
the medical professor and the surgeon utilize it in the clinic 
before their students; the orator makes use of it in appeal- 
ing to voters; and the lecturer clarifies his theme through 



226 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

this means. With young children it is absolutely essential, 
while with adults it may be employed to arouse the flagging 
interest. So long as interest is maintained attention can 
be held and no longer. 

4. Use judgment as to the length of the recitation. — 
There is a limit to the length of time that attention can be 
held, depending upon the maturity of the pupils, the char- 
acter of the subject, the method employed, the time of the 
day, and the personality of the teacher. In general, the 
attention of young children can be held only for a brief 
period. In most subjects, ten or fifteen minutes in the 
primary grades is as long a period as the children can be 
held in profitable recitation, as their interest is sure to flag. 
Subjects that admit of illustration or experimentation may 
be treated for a longer period. Laboratory work in phy- 
sics, chemistry, biology, etc., may be successfully continued 
for an hour, and even for a number of hours, especially 
where the pupils are engaged in individual work in which 
they may move freely about, selecting material, arrang- 
ing apparatus, and experimenting. The same is true of 
manual training. Other subjects of the curriculum also 
offer in themselves incentive to extended attention, and this 
is true of various phases of the same subject. For ex- 
ample, it would be more difficult to hold the attention of a 
class in English grammar than in the thrilling events of his- 
tory; and stories of the personal life of Washington or Ben- 
edict Arnold would be phases of liistory that would appeal 
to the interest more than an account of the formation of the 
American constitution. 

The method of instruction is a very important factor in 
holding the attention. The lecture method wearies rapidly 



INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT 22/ 

— even adults do not like a sermon to be over thirty or forty 
minutes long, and it takes a good lecturer with a most 
interesting theme to hold an audience for a very long time. 
Children must be allowed to take part in the exercise by 
asking and answering questions, while the method employed 
in high schools and colleges that secures the best results is 
a combination of lecture and recitation. Although a 
knowledge of the subject on the part of the teacher is most 
essential, the method of presenting it must not be lost sight 
of if interest is to be maintained and attention held.^ 

It is evident that keener interest can be secured early in 
the day, when the pupils are fresh and strong, than later 
the day when the body is weary and when the mind has 
already grasped about all that it is capable of taking. 
Therefore the schedule should be so arranged as to place 
subjects requiring close attention at the beginning of the 
day and those requiring less concentration at later periods.^ 

Finally, the personality of the teacher is an important 
factor in winning attention. The teacher who is enthusi- 
astic, alert, pleasing, fertile in expedient, himself interested, 
will certainly keep the attention longer than one who lacks 
these qualities. All of these factors — the age of the pupils, 
the subject, the method, the period of the day, and the per- 
sonality of the teacher should be taken into account in de- 
termining the length of time the attention may be held and 
therefore the length of the recitation period. 

5. Never attempt to teach without attention. — What- 
ever the condition, or the cause, whatever the age of the 

* See Chapter VIII on "Methods of Instruction." 

^ See "Foundations of Education," Chapter V on "The Daily Pro- 
gram." 



228 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

pupils, when they cease to give attention, it is time to make a 
change, perhaps to close the recitation. It is utter waste of 
time and effort, and nothing whatever can be accomplished. 
Every teacher should understand this and never attempt to 
teach without the interested attention of every member of 
the class. A careful adherence to these suggestions will 
soon secure the attention that is expected, and there will be 
a gradual increase of the power on the part of the pupils to 
give attention to any subject at will. The possession of 
this power is the best possible evidence of a trained mind, 
of an education. "The great skill of the teacher is to get 
and keep the attention of his scholars," says Locke. 

"Attention, depending as it does on the self-determina- 
tion of the observer, can therefore be improved, and the 
pupils made attentive, by the educator. Education must 
accustom him to exact, rapid, and many-sided attention, 
so that at the first contact with an object he may grasp it 
sufficiently and truly, and that it shall not be necessary for 
him always to be changing his impressions concerning it. 
The twilight and partialness of intelligence which force a 
pupil always to new corrections because he has all along 
failed to give entire attention must not be tolerated." ^ 

Industry. — The child is naturally active, and total inert- 
ness may be taken as a sign of mental or physical weakness. 
"There never was such a thing as a lazy child born on 
earth," asserts Colonel Parker. From morning till night the 
little child is busy, ceasing only when weariness compels 
sleep. Such activity is nature's method of introducing the 
child to his environment, of securing his development, of 

* Rosenkranz, "Philosophy of Education," p. ii6. 



INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT 229 

enabling him to gain command of himself. One of the 
most important functions of education is so to utilize this 
natural activity that the individual shall become purpose- 
ful, systematic, self-directive, and constant. Laziness may 
be considered as relative rather than absolute. While it is 
true that the normal child is active, it is also true that all 
men will escape, if possible, uncongenial tasks, that is, they 
are lazy with reference to them. In the spring of 1894, the 
contractors of the Chicago drainage canal offered employ- 
ment at small pay to the great crowd of men left stranded 
after the hard winter succeeding the World's Fair. Thou- 
sands of men responded to the call and offered themselves 
for work, bravely taking up pick and shovel to earn daily 
bread for themselves and families. Before noon large 
numbers abandoned the job, and by night only a few were 
left. The unthinking declared that the men were too lazy 
to work. The fact that they walked miles to secure work, 
that they entered upon it and did the best they could, dis- 
proved the charge of laziness. They were clerks, book- 
keepers, and other men unaccustomed to manual labor 
and were, therefore, in their half- famished condition, unable 
to stand the heavy work. Many of them returned the next 
day and persevered until they were able to endure the 
labor, thus giving evidence of their industry. 

The mathematical expert would soon lay dovm the spade 
on a hot August day, while he might spend half the night 
in the solution of some abstruse problem. On the other 
hand, the man accustomed to manual labor would work all 
day in the ditch but would fall asleep in a few moments 
over a theorem in Euclid. Each might be said to be lazy 
in one field and industrious enough in another, thus prov- 
ing that laziness is relative. 



230 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

The teacher will need to employ tact in utilizing the 
interests of the child — those things in which he is active 
enough, in order to lead him to be industrious in fields 
where he has less interest, but where it is his duty to go. 
For the child must not be excused from performing tasks 
that are uncongenial to him. In the words of Locke, 
"The foundation of all virtue consists in following the 
dictates of reason even though appetite lead the other way." 

Many of the world's greatest geniuses have been called 
lazy. The father of Sir Joshua Reynolds wrote on one of 
his son's drawings, "Done by Joshua out of pure idleness." 
James Watt was scolded by his grandmother because he 
was too lazy to do anything but watch the steam of the 
tea-kettle ! 

Again, the child must be trained to systematic industry. 
Rosenkranz says,* "Education must accustom him (the 
pupil) to use a regular diligence. The frame of mind suit- 
able for work often does not exist at the time when work 
should begin, but more frequently it makes its appearance 
after we have begun. The subject takes its own time to 
awaken us. Industry, inspired by a love and regard for 
work, has in its quiet uniformity a great force, without 
which no one can accomplish anything essential. The 
world, therefore, holds industry worthy of honor." Every- 
one knows what it means to set himself at work, and it will 
often be found that the disagreeableness of uncongenial 
tasks soon disappears. Very often dreaded tasks become 
a delight when one has fully entered upon them, when their 
mastery is being accomplished, and when their value comes 
to be appreciated.^ 

* "Philosophy of Education," p. 117. 

' See my "New School Management," p. 102. 



INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT 2$ I 

An important difference between a barbarian and a civil- 
ized man is found in the fact that the former is content 
to be idle, while the latter is most happy when employed 
either at work or in some form of recreation. Elsewhere 
it has been shown that the ability to direct one's activities 
serves as a moral safeguard, as well as conduces to 
success in life. (See p. i66.) Hence industry, which 
is so essential to moral and intellectual growth, is an evi- 
dence of advancement in civilization and of well-developed 
educational habit. It thus becomes most important that 
the teacher shall insist upon industry in his pupils, and 
wisely direct it so as to form systematic and permanent 
habits. 

Summary 

I. The child's self-activity must he stimulated and di- 
rected, without which he cannot he educated. Left to him- 
self such activity would he misdirected and little progress 
would he made. Hence the necessity of a teacher, who 
unfolds to the child the results of the world's intellectual 
achievement. The teacher's knowledge, skill, and enthu- 
siasm are devoted to the end that the child may reap the 
results of all past civilization and proceed to new fields of 
conquest and higher planes of thought. By this fneans he 
starts " on the shoiddcrs " of the world's attainment. 

II. Without attention all efforts to instruct are fruitless. 
The first essential to attention is interest, and ability to give 
attention may he taken as a measure of intellectual power. 
The steps marking the different degrees of attention are iso- 
lation, analysis, ahstr action, and finding the relations. As 



232 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

practical suggestions in regard to gaining and holding the 
attention ?nay be mentioned, — (i) see that the physical con- 
ditions of the room are normal; (2) require a proper attitude 
of the class; (3) awaken their interest; (4) cease when the 
pupils become weary; (5) never attempt to teach without it. 

III. The child is naturally industrious, laziness being 
relative, — // is an evidence of physical or mental defect, or 
of lack of interest in the matter in hand. While the child 
must be trained to perform tasks, even though they i7iay not 
always be agreeable, the skill of the teacher should be em- 
ployed to utilize his natural interests, to win his love for 
tasks, and to bring him to the performance of duty. The 
child that has been trained properly and systematically to 
employ his activities has the key to the mastery of the world 
and is possessed of a moral safeguard. 



CHAPTER XV 

THREE STAGES OF INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT 

References. — Smith, Systematic Methodology; Eckoff, A. B. C. 
of Sense-Perception; Burton, The Observing Faculties; Morgan, 
Studies in Pedagogy; Rosmini, Method in Education; Hughes, 
Dickens as an Educator; Adler, The Moral Instruction of Children; 
HoTvland, Practical Hints to Teachers; Parker, Talks on Pedagogics; 
McMurry, Method of the Recitation; Dodd, Introduction to Her- 
bartian Principles of Teaching; Schaejjer, Thinking and Learning 
to Think; Hopkins, How Shall my Child be Taught? Hall, Ado- 
lescence. 

I. SENSE-PERCEPTION. — The normal child at birth 
possesses five senses, seeing, hearing, taste, smell, and touch, 
which are the avenues through which he is to obtain a knowl- 
edge of the world. The brain is reached only through the 
senses, and there can be no education in any particular di- 
rection if the sense whereby that knowledge is gained is 
wanting. Thus the blind person can have no conception 
of color, the deaf person of the melody of music, and to the 
individual destitute of smell, savory odors and sweet per- 
fumes can bring no delight. Especially is this true if 
the defect dates from birth. 

Rosenkranz defines sense-perception as "the free grasp- 
ing of an object immediately present to the mind." ^ He 
further asserts that "Education can do nothing directly to- 
wards the performance of this act ; it can only assist in mak- 
ing it easy : (i) it can isolate the object of consideration; 

* "Philosophy of Education," p. 76. 
233 



234 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

(2) it can give facility in the transition to another; (3) it 
can promote the many-sidedness of the interest, by which 
means the return to a perception already obtained has al- 
ways a fresh charm." Each sense is not only capable of 
the general development necessary in ordinary life; but it 
also may receive special development, as we have seen 
(p. 60). The following suggestions for the cultivation of 
the perceptions may be found helpful. 

1. Perception is dependent upon the number of sensations 
received. — I meet the same person many times and gradu- 
ally a perception of him becomes fixed. An object is held 
before a class day after day and in time it fixes itself upon 
their minds even if it is not particularly studied or described. 
I hear a voice repeatedly until the sound of it becomes 
familiar and I recognize it ever afterward. The blind man 
touches the minute points representing the alphabet and 
after repeated trials he knows these characters instantly, 
and is on the road to reading. A perception of the charac- 
ters is gained, then the words are formed into sentences, 
and the avenue to the recorded thoughts of other men is 
open. 

2. Perception depends upon the order in which the sen- 
sations are received. — ■ If I meet the same man at about the 
same time and place, and under like circumstances, the per- 
ception of him will be more readily and more permanently 
fixed than if I meet him irregularly. The presentation of a 
subject to a class in a systematic manner, not only repeating 
it many times, but also in the same way, has a tendency to 
fix the perception of the subject. Recitations occurring at 
the same hour of the day, with regularity and system are 



THREE STAGES OF INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT 235 

more likely to secure good results than if they are held at 
irregular times and without order. 

3. Perception depends upon the vividness of the sensa- 
tions. — A startling event as a cry of fire, a call for help, 
a unique or fantastic dress, a peculiarity of some kind, 
makes a vivid impression upon the perceptions. A great 
disaster even though witnessed but once, will be remembered 
as long as life lasts because of the vividness of the impres- 
sion made. We have seen elsewhere how this fact is em- 
ployed in advertising schemes to attract attention. (See p. 
220.) Carl Schurz in his "Reminiscences of a Long Life," 
tells of seeing a man executed by the guillotine in a public 
square in Cologne when he was a boy ten years old, over 
sixty years ago. He narrates the details with remarkable 
explicitness and adds, "I remember walking home shudder- 
ing and trembling, and finding it impossible to eat my 
breakfast. Nothing could have induced me to witness an- 
other execution." 

4. Perception depends upon the associations connected with 
it. — In ascending Vesuvius I meet a fellow-countryman 
among a party. The fact of my being in a foreign land, of 
climbing a volcano, and of there being only two Americans 
in the party leads me to gain an unusual perception of my 
compatriot, such as I would be unlikely to gain of any 
other member of the group. A classmate in the laboratory 
failed to take the precaution to cut a piece of phosphorus 
under water and, as a consequence, the heat of his fingers 
ignited the phosphorus and he was severely burned. This 
made an impression upon his fellow students as to a charac- 
teristic of phosphorus that was never forgotten. There 



236 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

are incidents in the experience of every teacher which make 
a strong impression upon the class. 

5. Perception depends upon the attention given to minute 
details of the thing considered. — An object said to be a 
mermaid was brought before a scientific society and, after 
looking it over, an old teacher said, "This is certainly a gen- 
uine mermaid, the first I ever saw." A young professor 
present after examining the object carefully, showed it to 
be a most clumsy hoax. The latter was accustomed to 
minute and careful study of details and was therefore able 
to discern the truth. The more careful consideration, 
the more exact study an object commands, the more com- 
plete and correct will be the perceptions gained. For this 
reason it becomes a most essential educational process to 
train the senses to careful and painstaking observation. 

To recapitulate, then, the senses are trained and the 
perceptions perfected by repetition of the act or experience, 
by following systematic order, by making the perceptions 
vivid, by taking into account the associations connected 
with their reception, and by a minute consideration of the 
details. The importance of these processes will be under- 
stood and emphasized if we remember that it is only through 
the senses that the brain is reached, and that as we develop 
the senses we also develop the brain. 

Object Teaching. — The first work of the school is 
directly connected with sense-training. Hence the use of 
objects or the concrete in primary work, and this is the 
principal means to be employed. This continues during 
the first two or three years of the child's school life, but 
gradually the use of the concrete will be lessened and the 



THREE STAGES OF INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT 237 

work become more abstract. Education seeks to give 
the pupil general notions, abstract ideas. The process 
is from tlie concrete to the abstract. A few cautions, how- 
ever, should be observed. 

1. Too many objects should not be employed. (See p. 
104.) Every particle of attention which objects attract 
to themselves is just so much attention drawn away from 
the lesson to be taught and for which purpose the objects 
are employed. Thus, for example, in teaching number, 
the approach must be made concretely, but some simple 
objects like blocks of uniform size and color should be 
chosen. They will serve to bring the knowledge to the 
mind through the sense of sight or touch without the dis- 
tractions of color, taste, or desire for possession to inter- 
fere. After the abstract notion has been gained, the appli- 
cation may be made to other objects, but the instruction 
must not cease until the abstract notion has been gained. 

2. The use of the concrete should be abandoned when 
it is no longer necessary. Illustration may be employed, 
even with mature minds in some cases. Whatever the stage 
of development, it may be safely urged that when the con- 
crete is no longer necessary, when the abstract truth is 
reached directly without its aid, it should be abandoned. 
The abstract notion is the end sought. 

3. There should be a definite aim in the employment 
of the concrete. There are two reasons for the use of 
objects: first, they are employed in teaching lessons con- 
cerning the objects themselves; second, they are employed 
as a medium of knowledge concerning something else. To 
illustrate the first point, if a class were studying botany 



238 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

the most direct means would be to take them to the plant, 
or to place it before them for examination. The object is ex- 
hibited in order that it may be studied. The lessons learned 
are direct and immediate. To illustrate the second case, we 
employ blocks, not for their own sake, but as a means of 
teaching the number. The blocks have no interest, in 
themselves, but are merely a means whereby interest in 
other knowledge is awakened. Therefore they should pos- 
sess no characteristics that would attract interest to them- 
selves. With a definite aim in view, the teacher will select 
such illustrative material as will best meet that aim to the 
exclusion of all else. 

Use of Pictures. — In the absence of the object itself, 
recourse is often had to pictures as a means of direct illus- 
tration. In many respects the picture is preferable to the 
object itself. Many large animals cannot be brought into 
the schoolroom. Rosenkranz shows that pictures have 
certain decided advantages.^ " Pictures are extremely valu- 
able aids to instruction when they are correct and char- 
acteristic. Correctness must be demanded in these substi- 
tutes for natural objects, historical persons, and scenes. 
Without this correctness, the picture, if not an impediment, 
is, to say the least, useless." 

Pictures must be accurate, clear, typical, and true to the 
object they seek to represent. In some respects they are 
better than the object itself. As has been said, many 
animals cannot be brought into the schoolroom. Indeed 
there are very few animals that can be profitably studied 
in the school. The difficulty of securing a suitable animal, 
' "Philosophy of Education," p. 78. 



THREE STAGES OF INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT 239 

its restlessness when brought, the excitement of the chil- 
dren all tend to disturb the school and prevent any genuine 
study of its characteristics. Nor does a visit to the menag- 
erie — seldom convenient to the school — avail as a means 
of study. Animals thus seen serve as a curiosity and 
nothing more. The picture, on the other hand, may show 
the animal in its natural environment — the tiger in the 
jungle, the bird in its nest or upon a tree, the squirrel in 
the forest, or the beaver in the river. Thus the picture 
becomes a natural means of showing the life and habits of 
the creature as well as illustrating the type of the animal 
itself. 

The employment of illustrated text-books, beginning with 
the " Orbis Pictus " of Comenius in 1658, has been a most 
valuable educative means for training the eye, cultivating 
the taste, and conveying knowledge. Publishers are fully 
alive to this requirement, and illustrated text-books have 
materially furthered educational progress. Not only is" 
animal life made familiar, but also an acquaintance is made 
possible with historical scenes, important personages, geogra- 
phical places, works of art, and other things that cannot be 
brought into the schoolroom. The illustrated book thus 
becomes a most valuable adjunct to instruction, both in the 
home and in the school. 

Making Collections. — Most children delight in mak- 
ing collections, and this fact may be employed in the 
cultivation of the senses, especially the eye. Collections 
of plants, coins, postage-stamps, insects, etc., can be made 
of great value to the child, provided he is guided in making 
such a collection, encouraged to make it complete, arrang- 



240 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

ing, classifying, studying, and accurately observing it. Mere 
collections without systematic classification, have little 
value either educationally or commercially. Not long ago, 
an examination of the botanical collection of a gentleman 
recently deceased was made with view to purchasing it for 
a state museum. It was the most extensive collection ever 
made in that state, many years and large expense having 
been devoted to it. The specimens were mounted on 
scraps of newspaper, bits of wrapping paper, and writing 
paper without regulation or plan. Had the specimens 
been properly mounted, the collection would have been 
worth not less than twenty thousand dollars. As it was, no 
purchaser could be found for it. 

Not only the eye and the aesthetic nature, but also the 
practical and the utihtarian sense of the child may be cul- 
tivated by pictures and by collections. Besides this, a de- 
cided moral value may be attached to this kind of 
training. Order, system, perseverance, faithfulness, neat- 
ness, and other virtues may be inculcated. A practical use 
may be made of some of these collections in the work of in- 
struction. It will not be difficult to interest the child in the 
geography, history, government, customs, and peoples of a 
country from which he possesses stamps or coins; or in the 
habits of insects, or the uses of plants collected. It must 
be emphasized that the value to the child does not lie with 
the mere collecting, but rather with the use made of the 
objects after they are collected. 

Another most valuable means of training the eye is draw- 
ing. Through it the child learns to judge distances, to es- 
timate size, to distinguish color, as well as to gain control 
of the hand so as to enable it to obey the direction of the 



THREE STAGES OF INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT 241 

will. Nothing else in the school course is so valuable as a 
means of furnishing this training, indeed, through no other 
means can these ends be attained. 

Training the Ear. — Attention thus far has been directed 
chiefly to the means employed in training the eye. The 
other sense that is susceptible of training in the school is 
that of hearing. The ear is cultivated by music, and if 
music had no other ofhce than this, it would be worthy of a 
place in the curriculum. Much of the enjoyment of life is 
lost to one who cannot appreciate harmony of sound. An 
appreciation of harmony is apt to affect the tone of voice 
so that speech and reading are improved by music. A 
pleasant tone of voice can be cultivated also by securing 
a proper pitch in reading. The best means of doing this 
is found to be the training of the ear to distinguish differ- 
ences in pitch. Hence, the training of the ear should re- 
ceive especial attention, and every course of study must 
include such studies as will develop the various senses. 
This is especially true of the course for the first few years 
when most knowledge is obtained through the senses and 
when sense-perception is the dominant power of intellectual 
development. 

II. IMAGINATION.— The next period in the mental devel- 
opment of the child is that of imagination, which may be 
defined as the power of calling up images or experiences of 
perceptions already gained through the senses, and com- 
bining them into new images. Rosenkranz says, "The ac- 
tivity of perception results in the formation of an internal 
picture or image which intelligence can call up any time at 



242 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

pleasure, and imagine it as occupying an ideal space, al- 
though the object is absent, in fact, and thus the image or 
picture becomes a sort of general scheme (or pattern ap- 
plicable to a class of objects), and hence an image-concept. 
The mental image may (i) be compared with the percep- 
tion from which it sprang, or (2) it may be arbitrarily altered 
and combined with other images, or (3) it may be held fast 
in the form of abstract signs or symbols which intelligence 
invents for it. Thus originate the functions (i) of the 
verifications of conceptions, of (2) creative imagination, and 
(3) of memory." 

Creative Imagination. — The progress of civilization is 
dependent upon the power of creative imagination. Smith 
remarks,^ "In all acts of original illustration either of philo- 
sophical, scientific, or practical truth; in all mechanical in- 
ventions, original compositions, or decorations; in the per- 
formance of intelligent manual labor, or the production of 
an ideal human character — in a word, in all mental ad- 
vancement held within the bounds of individual notions 
and not directly supplied by the senses, the imagination is 
involved as the dominant faculty." 

The value of the " Sistine Madonna" is not found in the 
canvas, the material used in the exquisite colorings, or in 
the time devoted to sketching and painting it. But it lies 
in the originating, creative genius of a Raphael who could 
conceive and bring to realization such a masterpiece. Leo- 
nardo's "Last Supper," painted upon the walls of the 
Maria delle Grazie chapel in Milan, scarred by the ravages 
of time and neglect, is not so beautiful as a dozen copies 

* "Systematic Methodology," p. 39. 



THREE STAGES OF INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT 243 

standing upon easels in front of it, where modern artists are 
reproducing the original; but it is of infinite more value be- 
cause it is an original creation, and therefore it adds to the 
riches of the world. A bar of steel may have a value of a 
few dollars, but if drawn into fine wire and constructed into 
watch-springs its value is increased a millionfold. Words 
may be simply expressive of individual and heterogeneous 
ideas ; but if they are so placed together as to convey a noble 
thought, expressing that thought in an essay or a poem, 
they become immortal. Ideas gained through the senses 
are combined, rearranged, and developed through imagina- 
tion and the result is an essay, a poem, a painting, an inven- 
tion, a new thought, a creation, a contribution to the world's 
progress. 

Citing Smith again,^ "Objection is sometimes urged to 
the use of the term ' creative ' in reference to the human im- 
agination. It is stated that the imagination can create noth- 
ing new; it can at best only take old materials and put them 
into new relations. All the elements in the product are old, 
and we are totally incapable of making anything in imagi- 
nation which was not furnished in its elements by the senses. 
If by creation we meant bringing into being, then the criti- 
cism would be a valid one; but when it means producing 
that which in its present form did not previously exist, the 
objection to the word seems unfounded. We speak of per- 
sons making new houses, new wagons, new art designs, or 
new clothing, and the expressions go unchallenged; and 
yet most people have doubtless never stopped to think in 
what the element of newness consists. All the materials in 
a new house — the wood, stone, iron, slate, etc. — are all 

^ "Systematic Methodology," p. 42. 



244 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

old. What is it, then, that makes it a new house ? We dis- 
tinguish between new clothing and 'made-over' clothing, 
and yet all the materials in the new garments may be as old 
as those in the others. What, then, is the ground for the 
distinction; and just what do we mean by a new gar- 
ment? Every material product of man's skill is made up 
of two things — material elements and relations. The 
material elehients man must always find at hand ready for 
his use; he cannot bring any of them into being. The 
relations, or arrangement of these elements, he furnishes. 
And these new relations constitute the only element of new- 
ness in any of the products of man's skill. A new house, 
then, is all old, except the arrangement of the materials 
which compose it. If these materials have never before 
been put into the relations required for the production of 
such an object as is before us, we call the object new; if they 
have been in such a relation before, we call the object a 
'made-over' one. A new garment differs from a made- 
over one only in this: the materials of the 'made-over' gar- 
ment have been used in garments before, while those of the 
new one have never been so used. Now, in the products 
of imagination we have just the same amount of newness 
that we have in material products — new relations. All the 
elements (ideas) which serve as the data of imagination are 
old; the arrangement alone is new, and these new rela- 
tions man creates." 

Cultivating the Imagination. — Since imagination is so 
important to the advancement of the individual and of the 
race its training becomes a vital problem of pedagogy. 
How is the imagination, especially the creative imagination, 



THREE STAGES OF INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT 245 

to be cultivated ? It is cultivated cliiefly by works of art and 
literature. The study of fine paintings has a tendency to 
create a love of the beautiful and to fill the mind with noble 
thoughts. For this reason the Church has decorated her 
chapels and her cathedrals with the finest works of the great- 
est masters. Scarcely a masterpiece of the old artists can 
be found outside of a religious edifice, unless it has been 
brought away from such a place. Hoftmann's "Clirist be- 
fore the Doctors," Rubens' "Descent from the Cross," 
Raphael's "Sistine Madonna," Millet's "Angelus," whether 
found in a cathedral, an art gallery, or a home, can- 
not fail to awaken noblest sentiments and inspire better 
thoughts and higher imaginations in those who lixe in their 
presence. On the other hand, vulgar pictures stimulate 
evil thoughts and imaginations. Hence, the walls of 
saloons are decorated with pictures that incite evil passions. 
No better commentary on the wickedness of Pompeii when 
it was overwhelmed could be made than the testimony of 
the vile mural paintings that have been unearthed after 
twenty centuries of oblivion. The depraving eft'ect of 
evil pictures upon public morals is fully recognized by the 
government, which visits severe punishment upon any one 
offering them for sale or circulating them through the mails. 

Illustrated books, copies of masterpieces for wall deco- 
ration and for class use, free picture galleries, and the 
many art schools established at public expense afford ample 
means for the cultivation of good taste in art. The teacher 
can utilize these means in training the imagination. 

But the most important and available material is offered 
in the field of literature. Here, too, remarkable changes 
have taken place whereby the best and most suitable 



246 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

classic works are brought within the reach of all, both as 
to cost and as to suitability for classroom use. The term 
"Dime Novel," which used to be a term of reproach, 
because only trashy stories were published at that price, 
need be no longer so, for many of the best works of liter- 
ature are now published for ten cents, or even half that 
amount. Suitable literature for all ages of children is 
provided so that the child may have such reading as he 
needs to stimulate his imagination at any period. 

Rosenkranz well remarks,^ "The best literature designed 
for the amusement of children from their seventh to their 
fourteenth year consists always of that which is honored 
by nations and the world at large. One has only to notice 
in how many thousand forms the story of Ulysses is repro- 
duced by the writers of children's tales. Becker's 'Ancient 
Stories,' Gustav Schwab's most admirable 'Sagas of 
Antiquity,' Karl Grimm's 'Tales of Olden Times,' etc., 
what were they without the well-talking, wily favorite of 
Pallas and the divine swine-herd? And just so indestructi- 
ble are the stories of the Old Testament up to the separation 
of Judah and Israel. These patriarchs with their wives 
and daughters, these judges and prophets, these kings and 
priests, are by no means ideals of virtue from the stand- 
point of our modern lifeless morality, which would smooth 
out of it pattern-stories for the 'dear children' everything 
that is hard and uncouth. For the very reason that the 
shadow-side is not wanting here, and that we find envy, 
vanity, evil desire, ingratitude, craftiness, and deceit, 
among these fathers of the race and leaders of God's 
chosen people, have these stories so great an educational 

* "Philosophy of Education," p. 84. 



THREE STAGES OF INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT 247 

value. Adam, Cain, Abraham, Joseph, Samson, and 
David, have justly become as truly world- historical types 
as Achilles and Patroclus, Agamemnon and Iphigenia, 
Hector and Andromache, Ulysses and Penelope." The 
Culture Epochs theory outlines suitable literature for 
each year, and many schools have adopted courses of 
reading for each of the twelve grades. Nothing could be 
more practical and valuable in the training of children 
for life. 

Myths and Fairy Tales. — The myth often gives a semi- 
historical account of primitive times, and it possesses a 
peculiar fascination for children. The story told the chil- 
dren should be free from everything morbid or creative of 
a false idea. For example, stories that represent step- 
mothers as wicked, unfeeling, or wanting in the qualities 
of motherhood, even for children of another, should be 
wholly eliminated. Without doubt, fairy tales are in a 
large measure responsible for the ill-favor that still clings 
to the name ''step-mother," and the prejudice that so 
commonly exists against women who have accepted this 
heavy burden, German schools and homes have long 
since banished all literature that teaches this false notion, 
and, as a consequence, the step-mother is most cordially 
received, not only by the children, but also by the friends 
of their mother. 

The fear is often expressed that myths, wliich are not a 
statement of absolute fact, will have a tendency to teach 
the child to be untruthful. As a consequence, some would 
never allow the Santa Claus myth to be introduced to 
the home at Christmas time. Such matter-of-fact people 
remind one of the character Mr. Gradgrind in Dickens. 



248 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

"'And what,' asked Mr. Gradgrind in a still lower voice, 
'did you read to your father, Jupe?' 'About the Fairies, 
sir, and the Dwarf, and the Hunchback, and the Genies, ' 
she sobbed out. 

"'There,' said Mr, Gradgrind, 'that is enough. Never 
breathe a word of such destructive nonsense any more.'" 

Another example — "Louisa had been overheard to 
begin a conversation with her brother by saying, 'Tom, 
I wonder — ' upon which Mr. Gradgrind, who was the 
person overhearing, stepped forth into the light, and said, 
'Louisa, never wonder!'" 

The child loves the mysterious and it is hard for him 
finally to accept Santa Glaus as only a myth. And he will 
neither lose confidence in any one nor be made one whit 
more untruthful when he discovers that the cherished char- 
acter is only a myth. Myths and fairy tales are perfectly 
natural material for children, and it is uneducational, 
if not cruel, to rob them of this beautiful means of culti- 
vating the imagination in their early life. 

Good Taste for Literature. — It has been shown that it is 
no longer necessary to depend upon trashy books as a means 
of supplying literature for cliildren because of their cheap- 
ness, as standard works are issued in cheap editions. It 
is the duty of the school to get possession of the ground 
before evil seed has been sown. Weeds flourish in unoccu- 
pied soil, and if good seed has been first planted and has 
taken root there is httle danger of noxious plants getting a 
start. Applying the analogy to reading, if plenty of good 
books are put into the hands of children little is to be feared 
from the evil ones. A good taste can be established only 



THREE STAGES OF INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT 249 

by furnishing wholesome, pure, and interesting material 
and leading the children to read it instead of that which is 
vicious. A great deal more attention should be paid to 
children's reading than is common. There should be sys- 
tematic, constant, watchful effort to lead the children into 
reading good works. Little need be said of evil books or 
the curiosity to see what they contain will be stimulated. 
Leave no place for the bad by occupying all the territory 
at the outset with the good. 

A teacher of a fourth grade class pursued a very prac- 
tical and excellent plan whereby she led her pupils to read 
such books as she desired. The plan was this — each 
pupil contributed five cents to found a class library, and 
with this money forty- five of the "Five-cent Classics"^ 
were purchased. One of the pupils was appointed libra- 
rian, and the books were circulated according to rule, and 
thus each child would be entitled to more than a book a 
week for the entire year. Not only were the members of 
the class interested, but their parents and older brothers 
and sisters became interested and were allowed to join the 
club upon paying fifteen cents, and the movement became 
a neighborhood blessing, while each child was furnished 
with all the reading it needed. Biography, stories of patriot- 
ism, history, and classic works can thus be put into the 
hands of children. No more important and fruitful work 
can be undertaken by the teacher. A love for the good, 
the true, the chaste, the noble, the beautiful, can be incul- 
cated, the imagination furnished with plenty of pure mate- 
rial, and the moral life stimulated and fortified. 

* Published by the Educational Publishing Co., New York. This house 
publishes also the "Ten-cent Classics." The Normal Instructor Publish- 
ing Co., Dansville, N.Y., publishes many books of this character. 



250 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

It has been said, "If you can cultivate or establish in 
your pupils a genuine love for good reading, you will have 
conferred upon them a perfectly inestimable blessing. A 
boy who really enjoys the fine thoughts of our great writers 
can never go far wrong. Though absolutely alone, he 
need never be lonely. Though friendless and forsaken, 
he can associate with the master minds which the ages 
have labored to produce. Though poor in this world's 
goods, he can claim and enjoy as his rightful heritage all 
the best that has gone before." 

Memory. — This power is most retentive during the 
period when the imagination is most active. Indeed, more 
definite and lasting impressions are made upon the mind 
during the period from seven or eight to twelve or fourteen 
than during any other time of life. I knew a woman who 
had passed the century mark and who was in full posses- 
sion of her mental faculties. She remembered perfectly 
events that took place ninety years before when she was 
ten years old, but could recall nothing that took place 
twenty years before when she was eighty. G. Stanley 
Hall maintains that the principal mental training during 
the period under discussion is "arbitrary memorization, 
drill habituation with only limited appeal to the under- 
standing." And James M. Greenwood, commenting on 
this statement, forcefully asks — "Is this man a seer? 
Has he seen into human nature farther and better than 
multiphed thousands of others? He is neither mad nor 
dreaming. He is telling the teachers of America gospel 
truth." ^ 

* Educational Review, Vol. XXIX, p. 360. 



THREE STAGES OF INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT 2$ I 

If tliis be true, and most thoughtful educators accept 
it as true, texts of scripture, memory gems, poems, and 
other material that should be woven into the intellectual 
and moral fabric, should be thoroughly memorized during 
this period. Dr. Edson remarks, "Suitable memory gems 
and recitations should have a place in every school and 
in every grade. Time and effort given to memorizing 
some of the standard selections in verse and prose will 
bring rich returns in many ways. Not only will memory 
be trained — a much neglected faculty in these latter 
days — but the head and heart will be filled with ' beautiful 
thoughts, beautifully expressed.'" 

Another lesson is also apparent, namely, that our courses 
of study, which place the beginning of the study of 
languages in the high school — when the child is fourteen 
or fifteen years of age — are based upon false principles. 
The chief thing in beginning to learn a foreign tongue is 
to fix the declensions, conjugations, and other accidents, 
together with the acquirement of a vocabulary. This 
certainly is largely a matter of memory, and therefore the 
acquirement of these languages should be begun and car- 
ried well forward during the memory period previous to 
the fourteenth year. 

The Training of the Memory. — That the memory should 
receive training as truly as any other power of the mind is a 
fact that needs to be reiterated and reestablished. This 
training has been by far too much neglected and children 
as a consequence are lacking in exactness and thoroughness. 
Artificial means should be totally discarded, as they fail 
to produce any permanent result in aiding the memory. 



252 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

Rosenkranz suggests that to train the memory, "The 
means to be used (and these are based on the nature of 
memory itself) are, on the one hand, the pronouncing and 
writing of numbers, and on the other, repetition; by the 
former means we gain distinctness, and by the latter, sure- 
ness of memory." 

There are three things that must always be observed in 
cultivating the memory and in permanently fixing material 
in the mind. First, the attention must be given to the 
thing to be remembered. No impression will be made 
unless the mind attends to the matter in hand. Second, 
there must be many repetitions in order to deepen and fix 
the impression made. And third, logical order must be 
followed. Thus if the dates of history, the kings or presi- 
dents of a country, the verses of a chapter are taken in 
order, they will be more easily remembered. Association 
also assists the memory. A friend whom I have not seen 
for twenty-five years calls upon me. Scenes and events 
that occurred in boyhood and of which we had not thought 
for many years, are called up through the meeting between 
us, by association. I wish to recall a name that has 
gone from memory, and, starting with the first letter of the 
alphabet, I ask, " Does it begin with A, with B, with C, 
etc.?" until possibly I can recall through the associating 
process the whole name. 

Memory should have definite and systematic training, and 
there is need of a revival of interest in this respect. Atten- 
tion, repetition, logical order are the key-words in training 
memory, and the teacher can improve the memory of his 
pupils or of himself by adhering to these ideas. 

It is urged by many that the child should never be 



THREE STAGES OF INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT 253 

required to commit to memory what he does not understand. 
While this may be accepted as a general principle, there are 
certainly many very forcible exceptions to it. Some things 
that should be exactly remembered cannot be understood 
until mature life, if even then. The Lord's Prayer, the 
Apostle's Creed, the Catechism, gems of literature, should 
be committed to memory during the retentive period long 
before they are understood. Their meaning will become 
clear in maturer life, and the material so thoroughly fixed 
in the memory becomes a precious and appreciated acquire- 
ment. If the memorizing of them is delayed until they are 
understood, the fixing of most valuable material in the 
mind becomes very difficult if not impossible. Hence they 
should be memorized during the early years even before 
they are understood. 

III. REASON. — The third epoch in intellectual devel- 
opment is the logical epoch, or the epoch of reasoning. No 
hard and fast lines can be made fixing the period of sense- 
perception, of imagination, or of reason. But knowledge is 
gained during the first seven or eight years chiefly through 
the senses, during the next six or seven years through 
imagination, and after that through reason. This fact 
must be taken into account in the arrangement of the 
course of study, and in the method of instruction. The 
thinking activity is dependent upon the processes which 
have preceded. Thinking employs all that has been 
gained through the senses and through imagination, but 
it leads into a realm of its own, it forms images of its 
own, it comprehends the general notion, it proceeds to ab- 
straction, which represents the highest form of intellectuality, 
the end to be sought in education. 



254 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

There is no doubt that, "The fostering of the sense of 
truth, from the earhcst years up, is the surest way of 
leading the pupil to gain the power of thinking. The 
unprejudiced, disinterested yielding to truth, as well as the 
effort to shun all deception and false seeming, is of greatest 
value in strengthening the power of reflection." Lying 
inculcates looseness, not only in expression, but also in 
thought, while truth fosters accuracy both in expression 
and thought. Exaggeration and untruthfulness, and often 
the distinction between the two is difficult to mark, have a 
tendency to create a state in which one does not know 
whether one's statements are true or not, and surely this is 
destructive to correct thinking. Therefore, the training of 
youth to think and speak the truth has an inteellctual as 
well as a moral value. There is little hope of attaining 
intellectual power unleSs the sense of truth is intrenched in 
the very fiber of the soul. The great thinkers of all ages 
have been noted for their love for and practice of simple 
truth according to their enlightenment. 

Training the Logical Powers. — Many have believed that 
the chief means of training the logical power is mathe- 
matics. The reason for this is that mathematics cannot 
be taught without employing the reason, while many other 
subjects of the curriculum can be. History can be merely 
committed to memory and the teacher can hear the pupils 
recite. Geography work may consist in learning defini- 
tions and hunting up places on the map. Reading may be 
a mere calling of the words of the text with correct empha- 
sis and inflections without a comprehension of the beauties 
of literature or of the thought contained. Science may be 



THREE STAGES OF INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT 2$$ 

Studied by simply committing to memory text-book state- 
ments. But this is not the best teaching, perhaps not teach- 
ing at all. Every subject of the curriculum should be so 
taught as to call forth the causes which led to certain 
effects. The least value of all in history is the memorizing 
of events. The underlying cause must be discovered, the 
various incidents that have led up to certain results must 
be traced in their relation to each other and to the final 
outcome, and the effect of the whole upon civilization and 
upon the world's progress be brought to light. And this 
requires the exercise of the highest reasoning power. The 
location of cities and causes that led to such location, the 
effect of climate, temperature, etc., the influence of rivers 
and other bodies of water upon climate and commerce, 
these and other matters of geography must be studied in 
relation to the earth as the home of man, which also neces- 
sitates a consideration of cause and effect. While due 
attention in reading must be given to the conventional 
requirements — the correct pronunciation of words, the 
inflections, the pauses — the great purpose of reading is to 
get at the thought, to comprehend the meaning of the 
author, to grasp the truth taught. The study of science 
takes the student into the deep things of Nature and 
reveals her symmetry, her eternal laws, and the logical 
sequence of her manifestations. And so, whatever the 
subject taught the teacher will be able to make it contribute 
to the training of the pupil to reason, especially if he has 
reached the period of life when reason predominates. And, 
while the logical power is thus trained, the subject itself 
will be far better taught, its. truths revealed, and it will be 
made to serve its purpose as a means of the development of 



256 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

the child. All the subjects of the curriculum should con- 
tribute to the cultivation of the reasoning power, though 
none can take the place of mathematics, which is essential 
to the cultivation of pure reason. 

The Use of the Rule. — The final step in logical training is 
the complete statement, wliich brings the whole matter into 
small compass'in the form of a principle, logical summary, 
or rule. Some object to requiring the child to commit to 
memory a rule, urging that if he has grasped the subject he 
may be left to express his knowledge of it in his own words 
and in his own way. This attitude is the extreme opposite 
of the earlier method which started out by requiring the rule 
to be committed to memory without regard to an understand- 
ing of its meaning, and then attempting to apply its teaching. 
The falsity of tliis method being understood, educators im- 
mediately swung to the other extreme and declared that the 
rule should never be learned, an error almost as great as 
the former. The truth evidently lies in the middle ground. 
Take a concrete illustration, as for example, learning long 
division. Teach the child the process, have him explain 
how he worked a given example, then let him tell in his 
own words how any example in long division should be 
worked, thus forming a rule, and finally, let him commit to 
memory the stated rule. It will not then be beyond his 
comprehension, it will be in more accurate language, it will 
express the whole truth and no more.* 



* See p. 93 for further treatment of this topic. 



THREE STAGES OF INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENT 2$/ 

Summary 

I. The medium through which the child begins to get 
acquainted with external things is his senses. Accuracy of 
perception depends upon the number of sensations received, 
upon the order they are received, upon their vividness, upon 
association, and upon the attention that is given. Concrete 
material should be employed when necessary, but abandoned 
as soon as the abstract notion is gained. Definite training 
of the eye is given through pictures, collections, and drawing; 
of the ear, chiefly by means of music and the proper pitch in 
reading. 

II. The second stage of development is imagination, 
which may be defined as the power of calling up images, 
perceptions already gained through the senses, and combin- 
ing them into new images. Through combining, rearrang- 
ing, and developing these ideas by means of creative imagi- 
nation the result is a new creation, — a poem, an essay, a 
painting, a sculpture, an invention, a contribution to the 
world's riches and to the progress of civilization. The im- 
agination is trained chiefly through works of art and litera- 
ture. Good taste can be formed by furnishing the pupils 
with wholesome, pure, and interesting material. 

III. Memory is most retentive during this period. Hence 
memory gems, texts of Scripture, the beginning of foreign 
tongues, and other material requiring accurate memory should 
be taught at this time. Memory is trained by fixing the 
attention, by repetition, and by presenting the subject-matter 
in logical order. Artificial means should be discarded. 



258 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

IV. The final stage of intellectual development is that of 
reason, or the logical epoch. Thinking, while based upon 
perceptions and conceptions, enters a realm of its own, it 
comprehends the general notion, it proceeds to abstraction, — 
the highest form of intellectuality, the end to be sought in 
education. Every subject in the curriculum may be so 
taught as to develop the reasoning power. While in each 
of the three stages of development, — sense- perception, im- 
agination, and reason, — these are the predominant char- 
acteristics, as has been shown, there is an overlapping 
between them, and no period belongs exclusively to any one 
of them. 



CHAPTER XVI 

THE ACT OF LEARNING 

References. — McMurry, Method of the Recitation; also, Series 
of Works on Special Methods; Ogden, Science of Education; 
Parker, Talks on Pedagogics; Spencer, Education; Sabin, Common 
Sense Didactics; Report of the Committee of Ten, and of the Com- 
mittee of Fifteen; Shaw, A New Course of Study; Chancellor, Our 
Schools, their Administration and Supervision. 

Instruction presupposes a person qualified to teach and 
another possessing the capacity to learn. The teacher must 
first have knowledge to impart, and then know how to bring 
that knowledge witliin the range of the learner's compre- 
hension. While special methods are valuable as a means 
of increasing the skill in the art of teaching, and adding 
to the efficiency of the work, they are necessarily subor- 
dinate to knowledge itself. (See p. io8.) The acquirement 
of knowledge is a long and slow process; skill in presenting 
it to others may be rapidly attained. 

Education a Process of Cancellation. — The relation of 
teacher to pupil necessitates taking for granted that there 
is an inequality between them. The teacher knows the 
subject to be presented, the pupil is ignorant of it. In 
the words of Rosenkranz,^ "All instruction starts from the 
inequality between those who possess knowledge and abil- 
ity and those who have not yet obtained them. The 
former are qualified to teach, the latter to learn. Instruc- 

* "Philosophy of Education," p. io6. 
259 



260 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

tion is the act which gradually cancels the original inequal- 
ity of teacher and pupil, in that it converts what was at first 
the property of the former into the property of the latter 
by means of his own activity." It follows that where there 
is much to give, where the teacher possesses a large fund of 
knowledge and experience, the learner may enjoy the greater 
advantages, has more to expect, because there is greater 
inequality to cancel. Hence those who would employ as 
teacher the untrained and insufficiently educated young girl 
on the ground that her pupils are young, urging that "she 
knows enough to teach these little cliildren," are laboring 
under a fundamental error. Where the difference between 
the teacher and the pupil is but little, the latter can receive 
but little. Thus, instead of employing inexperienced 
teachers at small cost as a matter of economy, the expendi- 
ture becomes really waste. It is not enough that those 
placed in charge of a school should know only the subjects 
they are to teach, they must possess a reserve upon which 
they can draw so that out of the fulness and richness of 
their knowledge they may present "things new and old." 
It must be taken for granted, however, that the instructor 
has pedagogical insight and mastery of method which will 
enable him so to present his subject-matter as to bring it 
within the comprehension of his pupils. Without this 
power to impart, it will be difficult to bridge the difference 
between the two. The well-equipped teacher, therefore, 
will possess the necessary knowledge, and also the profes- 
sional skill in the art of presenting it. The culture work of 
the high school and college must be supplemented by training 
in the technique of teaching as truly as the medical student, 
the lawyer, or the dentist, must be trained in the technique 
of his profession. 



THE ACT OF LEARNING 261 

Instruction the Principal Work of the School. — The chief 
work of the teacher is to instruct, and the management of 
the school, the maintenance of discipline, and the preservation 
of order, which are absolutely essential, are only means to an 
end, that end being the instruction of the children. Order 
is maintained only because teacliing cannot go on without 
it, and therefore it should never be given prominence. This 
thought should be emphasized, and it Avill be found that 
if the instruction is interesting and suitable, disorder is 
unlikely to appear and the true function of the school can 
be fulfilled. 

Rosen kranz indicates three stages of development 
through instruction, namely, apprenticeship, journeyman- 
ship, and mastership, following the distinctions employed 
in trades, which indicate degrees of efficiency. The ap- 
prentice is under the direction of a master. He must learn 
to be self-directive, and this is an essential result to be 
sought in intellectual education as well. The child is an 
apprentice, a learner, and he must be taught to be inde- 
pendent, so that he can continue his education when he is 
separated from his school and his teacher. When it is 
borne in mind that the average time that an American cliild 
spends in school, according to Dr. Harris, is about five 
years, and that more than eighty per cent of the children 
leave school before the completion of their twelfth year, the 
necessity of securing this essential power of self- direction 
at the earliest possible age becomes evident. Without this 
power, education has failed to fulfil its greatest function, for 
it does not equip the man to continue his development even 
after he is thrown upon his own resources. The work of 
the elementary school, which alone reaches four-fifths of the 



262 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

children, is thus demonstrated to be the most important 
of all educational work. Every teacher, therefore, should 
seek to bring his pupils as early as possible from the state 
of educational apprenticeship into the larger life of inde- 
pendent beings, capable of self-direction. 

The method of instruction is important in securing 
this result. The imparting method (Erziehende-Unter- 
richt), as practiced in the German Volksschule fails to 
do it, for but few cliildren who leave school at fourteen 
years of age, however thorough their mastery of the subject- 
matter, however comprehensive their general knowledge, 
have either the desire or the ability to pursue their educa- 
tion further. Give the child the ability to direct liis own 
culture, and the desire to continue to advance, and the great- 
est office of the school has been accomplished. His educa- 
tional apprenticeship, if not completed, is so far along that 
he will know how to complete it and will be likely to do so. 
If he must forego further educational advantages, the whole 
field of knowledge is still before him. Having learned to 
discover things for himself, having been taught where to go 
for information and how to study, books, and nature, and 
the whole world will be at his command. The difficulties 
of knowledge will disappear before his perseverance, his 
industry, and his intelligent mastery of himself. He is now 
capable, like the journeyman in the trades, of doing inde- 
pendent work. Although he may still be under a master, 
he may be assigned tasks which he can perform alone 
without supervision or direction. 

The final stage — final in a relative sense only — is that 
of mastership. In tliis stage the individual not only knows 
how to direct his own efforts with perfect freedom, but he is 



THE ACT OF LEARNING 263 

also able to direct and instruct others. As Rosenkranz 
remarks, "The master is complete only in relation to the 
journeyman and apprentice; to them he is superior. But, 
on the other hand, in relation to the infinity of the prob- 
lems of his art or science, he is by no means complete; to 
himself he must appear as one who begins ever anew, 
one who is ever striving, one to whom a new problem 
ever rises from every achieved result. He cannot discharge 
himself from work, he must never rest on his laurels. He 
is the truest master whose finished performances only force 
him on to never-resting progress." Like Sir Isaac Newton, 
he regards himself as "A child gathering pebbles on the 
seashore." 

" Who shall pupil be ? " 
" Every one." 

"Who shall craftsman be?" 
" Who good work has done." 
" Who shall master be ? " 
" He who thought has won." 

Thus the process of instruction will vary under the dif- 
ferent stages of development, ever aiming to bring the learner 
into the largest possible ability to direct his own education. 
How far this may be carried depends upon the capacity 
of the individual, as we have already remarked (p. 159). 
With the mass of humanity the greatest skill in instruc- 
tion is required. To uncover hidden powers, and make 
the most of them, to distinguish the presence of capac- 
ity and its absence, to stimulate the backward and arouse 
the dull, to give courage to the timid and lead them to at- 
tack difficulties, to awaken the interest of the indolent, is 
the teacher's most difficult task — a measure of his skill 



264 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

and power. Herbert Spencer well remarks, " Mankind, 
like a group of men selected haphazard, is made up of a 
few clever individuals, many ordinary ones, and some de- 
cidedly stupid." It is with the "ordinary ones" that the 
teacher is chiefly concerned. Where there is total incapacity, 
the school can do nothing. But one must not be too ready 
to accept apparent incapacity in some particular field. It 
often occurs that a child really possesses powers that are 
dormant and that need arousing. Possibly it is a case of 
arrested development — happily not so common as formerly 
since child-study has made so many discoveries in the 
development of children; it may be that because of some 
physical condition the child is temporarily under a cloud; 
or it may be that the subject-matter offered belongs to a 
later period of the child's life. Whatever the cause, patience, 
watchfulness, and careful solicitude on the part of the 
teacher should safeguard the child and intelligent effort be 
made to lead it into the light, or at least, bring to it the very 
best it is capable of receiving. 

With bright and talented pupils, there is less difficulty so 
far as bringing them to grasp the material of instruction is 
concerned; but there is danger that they, accustomed to gain 
knowledge with little effort, may lack perseverance, may 
appreciate too little the value of education, and may there- 
fore be satisfied with superficial knowledge. It is as true 
in education as in life, that which costs little is valued little. 
Hence the slow, mediocre, perhaps dull pupil, who must 
work for what he gets, is apt to learn patience, persever- 
ance, fidelity, and that dogged persistence which never rec- 
ognizes defeat. His knowledge costs him great effort, and 
when it is gained, it is not only appreciated, but eternally 
fixed. 



THE ACT OF LEARNING 26$ 

Many children are precocious in certain directions. 
Such cliildren need to be carefully guarded in order to pre- 
vent egotism on the one hand, and premature develop- 
ment on the other. "Youthful precocity," says George 
Eliot, "is like too early rising, apt to be followed by a long 
and wearisome afternoon." Too much notice of specially 
bright children, either in the home or in the school, has 
a tendency to make them self-conscious and vain, and to 
destroy that innocence and naivety which are the charm of 
childhood. 

The Professionally Taught and the Self-Taught. — After 
a child has passed through his educational apprenticeship 
his further development may be obtained in general by 
two means, (i) through professional channels, and (2) 
through self-teaching. In either case his progress may be 
continuous, being limited only by his capacity, and by the 
amount of time and effort he may devote to it. Of course 
there are decided advantages possessed by the first of these 
means, that is, through the discipline of organized educa- 
tion as represented in schools. As Dr. Harris puts it, 
"The professionally educated masters thoroughly what the 
experience of the race has transmitted to his own specialty, 
and hence increases his own stature by standing on the 
shoulders of the human race." He begins at the point 
that the world's development has reached and goes forward 
to a higher level. The school, with its course of study — 
the result of the experience and wisdom of centuries — with 
its systematic teaching and its thoroughness, with its edu- 
cated teachers, and with its equipment, stands for profes- 
sional education. In it the pupil accepts what the world 



266 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

has learned and what is established, and presses forward 
into new fields of discovery and investigation. Thus 
further progress in civilization becomes possible. 

The person who must depend upon teaching himself, 
although he possesses the two requisites heretofore pointed 
out, namely, desire for further improvement and knowledge 
of how to attain it, such person will always be handi- 
capped by lack of material equipment, the tools with 
which to work, by uncertainty as to selection of material, 
by the uneconomical methods employed, and by the want 
of guidance by more experienced and wiser men. Quoting 
from Rosenkranz,^ "The self-taught man has often true 
talent, or even genius, to whose development, nevertheless, 
the inherited culture has been denied, and who by good 
fortune has through his own strength worked his way into 
the field of effort. The self-taught man is distinguished 
from the amateur by the thoroughness and industry with 
which he acts; he is not only equally unfortimate with him 
in the absence of school training, but is much less assisted 
by the advice of the competent. Even if the self-taught 
man has for years studied and practiced much, he is still 
haunted by the feeling of uncertainty as to whether he has 
yet reached the standpoint at which a science, an art, or a 
trade, will receive him publicly. It is of great consequence 
that man should be comprehended and recognized by man. 
The self-taught man, therefore, remains embarrassed, and 
does not free himself from the apprehension that he may 
expose some weak point to a professional, or he falls into 
the other extreme — he becomes presumptuous, steps forth 
a reformer, and, if he accomplishes nothing, or earns only 

* "Philosophy of Education," p. iii. 



THE ACT OF LEARNING 267 

ridicule, he sets himself down as a martyr unrecognized 
by an unappreciative and unjust world." 

The Course of Study. — The material of instruction is 
indicated in the course of study. For centuries the 
formation of a school curriculum has been the center 
of educational thought and experiment. Sturm's course of 
study, which appeared in 1538, is the oldest attempt 
of Protestant educators to systematize the material of in- 
struction into an organic unity. Indeed, Williams says,^ 
"With regard to Sturm's plan of organization, it should be 
borne in mind that it is the very earliest scheme that we 
have, looking to an extended, systematic, and well-articu- 
lated course of studies for a school of several teachers, in 
which is assigned to each class such portions of the sub- 
ject-matter of the course of instruction as is suited to the 
age and stage of advancement of its pupils." This plan 
had the merit of definiteness, thoroughness, and unity, 
though even Sturm found trouble in carrying out its full 
requirements. 

Later the Jesuits produced the Ratio Studiorum, a scheme 
of work that lays principal stress upon the humanities and 
religious instruction. In his "Great Didactic," Comenius 
presents a complete plan of school organization covering 
the whole period of education from birth till the completion 
of the university. Modern educators have not been want- 
ing in zeal for the improvement of school courses, and 
some notable documents treating this subject have appeared, 
among which may be mentioned the " Report of the Com- 
mittee of Ten," of the " Committee of Fifteen," and of other 

* "History of Modem Education," p. 91. 



268 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

committees of the National Educational Association; "A 
Suggestive Course of Study for Primary, Grammar, and 
High School Grades," known as Document No. 21, of the 
New Jersey Council of Education; "A New Course of 
Study," by Edward R. Shaw.* 

Dr. Balliet remarks, "There is a nascent period for each 
physical and mental power, a period of rapid growth when 
new aptitudes and interests are developing. It is our dense 
ignorance of most of these nascent periods that makes it im- 
possible for us as yet to prepare a proper course of study. 
Hence our courses of study are little more than conscientious 
guesses. When we shall know more about these nascent peri- 
ods, we shall be able to arrange a course in which the various 
phases of every study will be presented at the proper nascent 
period when they will appeal most strongly to the child. 
Such a course must take into account three types of 
children — the observer, the thinker, and the doer. The 
last type has but recently been recognized in education."' 

It may be said that every course of study must include all 
the subjects necessary to accomplish the purpose it sets out 
to attain, which subjects must be so arranged as to be sequen- 
tial in their order, harmonious in their relation to each other, 
economical in the presentation of material, at the same time 
offering a complete unity from beginning to end. There 
must be no undue repetition of subjects, and yet, there must 

* This is an "Analytical Outline of a Course of Study for Elementary 
Schools," in which the work for the first eight years is marked out according 
to the three centers that De Garmo advocates, namely. Humanistic, Scien- 
tific, and Economic. The scheme is elaborately developed and is well worth 
a careful study. 

' See De Garmo, "A Working Basis for the Correlation of Studies, " Sti- 
ucational Review, Vol. V, p. 451 ; also " Report of the Committee of Ten," 



THE ACT OF LEARNING 269 

be enough repetition to fix the material in the pupil's mind. 
It may be remarked that the same subject presented at 
different stages of the child's development, under varied 
conditions, by different methods and different teachers, 
not only affords new view-points and broader conception 
of the lesson, but is absolutely essential in securing thorough 
apperceptive results. Thus repetition instead of being a 
waste may prove the truest educational economy. 

The problem has been to decide upon the essential studies 
and to arrange them in proper order. So long as civiliza- 
tion progresses no permanent curriculum can be perfected. 
New discoveries and inventions, increased demands of life, 
better teachers and more complete equipment, extended 
period of schooling for the cliild, more correct knowledge of 
the laws of human development, better methods of teaching 
— all these, make improvement and extension of the curri- 
culum both imperative and possible. Higher institutions of 
learning are the first to feel the need of advance, and they 
endeavor to keep pace with progress by increasing their 
entrance requirements and broadening their courses. Sec- 
ondary schools are obliged in turn to change and raise their 
standards to meet the demands of the higher institutions 
which their students desire to enter, and finally the elemen- 
tary school must make its work fit the new exactions of the 
high school. Thus, commencing at the top and reach- 
ing downward the whole course has been changed. Pres- 
ident Butler has shown that the graduate of Columbia be- 
fore the Civil War was not so well equipped as the sophomore 
of the present, while it has been claimed that a graduate of 
Yale of fifty years ago had not as much preparation as is re- 
quired of the candidate for entrance now. A constant for- 



270 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

ward movement with regard to the curriculum is both nat- 
ural and necessary. 

This increased demand upon the student must not be too 
exacting, nor must the higher institutions require more of 
the schools below them than they are able to accomplish. 

While no ideal course of study has yet been made, and 
it may never be possible to construct one, owing to 
the new demands of life, and to advancing civilization, 
every corps of teachers must seek to bring to their pupils 
the very best that their concentrated wisdom can attain. 

Nature of the Course of Study. — We design here to 
outline certain mental principles that must control in any 
course of study, leaving to each faculty the duty of con- 
structing such a curriculum as their school demands/ 
Among the principles that must govern this work are the 
following : 

I. The subject of the course of study must he properly 
correlated. — The Committee of Fifteen very forcibly 
urged the necessity of a proper correlation of studies and 
suggested the branches of study that are necessary to a 
complete development. Dr. Harris in a later discussion 
of that report says,^ "The studies of the school fall natu- 
rally into five coordinate groups, thus permitting a choice 
within each group as to the arrangement of its several 

* I call attention to two solutions that have lately been offered as follows: 
"A New Course of Study," by the late Dr. Edward R. Shaw. Document 
No. 21, Council of Education of New Jersey, entitled, "A Suggestive Course 
of Study for Primary, Grammar, and High School Grades." 

^ Dept. of Superintendence, National Educational Association, at Jack- 
sonville, Fla., Feb. 1896. 



THE ACT OF LEARNING 27 1 

topics, some finding a place early in the curriculum and 
others later. These five coordinate groups were first, 
mathematics and physics; second, biology, including chiefly 
the plant and the animal; third, literature and art, includ- 
ing the study of literary works of art; fourth, grammar and 
the technical and scientific study of language, leading to 
such branches as logic and psychology; fifth, history and 
the study of sociological, political, and social institutions. 
Each of these groups, as it was assumed, should be repre- 
sented in the curriculum at all times by some topic suited 
to the age and previous training of the pupil." 

A few years ago the subject of correlation received a great 
deal of attention among educational thinkers and, as a result, 
a more careful, systematic, and mutual relation has been es- 
tablished between the subjects of the school course. Geog- 
raphy and history, reading, spelling, grammar, and litera- 
ture, mathematics and science, language and composition, 
possess a mutual relation to each other, which, if observed 
in the course and in the instruction, advances rather than 
retards the progress in each individual subject, at the same 
time it produces a well-balanced development. 

2. In the elementary course chief stress must be laid upon 
the essentials of culture. — Every child must know how 
to read, write, and cipher. These are the first essentials 
demanded of the schools and they must not be neglected. 
But they are not the only essentials nor by any means the 
most important. They are the means to an end, they 
open the door to the fields of knowledge, they are the imple- 
ments of work. Being the key that unlocks the store- 
house of knowledge, perfect mastery of them should be 
gained and no excuse for less than this can be tolerated. 



2/2 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

To quote again from Dr. Harris, "The first stage of school 
education is education for culture, and education for the 
purpose of gaining command of the conventionahties of 
intelhgence. These conventionahties are such arts as 
reading and writing, and tlie use of figures, technicahties 
of maps, dictionaries, the art of drawing, and all of those 
semi-mechanical facilities which enable the child to get 
access to the intellectual conquests of the race. Later on 
in the school course, when the pupil passes out of the 
elementary studies, which partake more of the nature of 
practice than of theory, he comes to the secondary school 
and the college, to the study of science and the technique 
necessary for its preservation and communication. All 
these things belong to the first stage of school instruction 
whose aim is culture." 

Opinions may differ as to exactly what subjects are 
necessary for culture, and as to how early mastery of these 
should be expected. At least all the work of the elementary 
school is embraced, and possibly that of the high school 
and much of the college course. This point has received 
treatment in a former chapter. 

3. The course must he well-balanced and symmetrical. — 
It must take the child into all of the difi"erent fields of human 
knowledge. "From the primary school on through the 
academic course of the college, there should be symmetry, 
and five coordinate groups represented at each part of the 
course — at least in each year, although perhaps not through- 
out each part of the year." Dr. Harris as we have seen, marks 
out five branches to be included. (See also Chapter II.) 
President Butler indicates these departments of knowledge 
to be science, literature, the cssthetic, the institutional, and 



THE ACT OF LEARNING 2/3 

the religious. Dr. De Garmo outlines the field into human 
sciences, such as languages, literature, art, and history; 
natural sciences, such as physics, chemistry, astronomy, 
biology, geography, mathematics, etc.; economic sciences, 
such as economics proper, technology, and commercial 
knowledge- 
Whatever scheme may be accepted, the teacher in formu- 
lating a course of study, should see to it that every child 
receives instruction in eacli of the branches of knowledge 
during every year of the elementary course. 

4. The course must take into account the stages in the 
child's development. — In the intellectual development of 
the child there is a period when the sense perceptions are 
best appealed to, another period when memory is especially 
tenacious, another when reason predominates, and so on. 
The material offered liim should be selected with reference 
to these periods. Thus, the course should appeal largely to 
the senses in the first three years, should furnish material 
to employ the memory at say eight to twelve, and place sub- 
jects that require much reasoning later. The development 
of the physical body should also be taken into account. 
Control of the motor activities should be sought and there 
should be such systematic and natural training of the body 
as will not only foster its growth and maintain its health, 
but also bring it to its highest physical perfection. The 
course should also have in mind the development of sound 
and intelligent moral habits and ethical life. 

5. The course must meet the aim for which it is in- 
tended. — The foregoing principles are general and they 
should be applied to all courses for elementary schools and 



274 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

for all who are beginning to acquire an education. In 
more advanced work, there will be courses for technical 
students — commercial courses, engineering, medical, legal, 
theological, pedagogical, etc. These courses should be 
adapted to the purpose for which the school stands. 

What the Elementary School Should Accomplish. — We 

have said that every course must meet the aim of the school 
for wh ch it is intended. For example, the course of the 
elementary school must first of all equip the child for his life 
work. It may well be asked, What has the parent a right to 
expect the school to do for his child? It would seem a just 
requirement that the child who has completed the grammar 
school course at the age of fourteen or fifteen should possess 
the following qualifications: 

1. He should be able to speak and write the English 
language accurately, not only from habit, which, of course, 
is of chief importance, but also with a knowledge of the 
underlying rules of grammar. 

2. He must be able to spell correctly such words as he 
will use in letter- writing and composition, as well as to 
write legibly. 

3. He should be able to read from a newspaper or 
ordinary book witli clear enunciation, correct pronuncia- 
tion, and such understanding as not only to gain the thought 
himself, but also to convey it to others when reading aloud. 

4. He must possess sufficient mastery of arithmetical 
processes to meet the ordinary affairs of life. 

5. He must be familiar with the history of our own 



THE ACT OF LEARNING 2^$ 

country and also have some acquaintance with the most 
important events of the world's history. 

6. He must know the elementary processes of our 
scheme of government so that he may later discharge the 
duties of intelhgent and patriotic citizenship. 

7. He should have a good knowledge of geography. 

8. He should understand to a degree the structure, sup- 
port, nourishment, and care of the human body. 

9. He should know something of elementary science so 
as to comprehend the ordinary phenomena of the world 
about him. 

10. In addition, he will know many tilings that cannot 
well be formulated; such as, music, handiwork, drawing, 
and, in its broadest sense, the principles of ethical living. 

If the school fails to reach approximately these results 
with the normal child who is regular in attendance, the 
parent has a right to complain, and the course of study 
should be planned to accomplish these ends. With this 
foundation to build upon, the higher schools can direct 
his activities into commercial, scientific, classical, or 
technical channels to meet the purpose designed. The 
Herbartian school of pedagogy has rendered the cause 
of education great service by calling attention to the 
importance of a proper correlation of the subjects of the 
school course, even though its scheme of correlation may 
be considered too formal. 

Arrangement of the Daily Program. — The success of 
instruction depends in a measure, upon the time of its 
presentation. Investigations have proven that increased 



276 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

efficiency on the part of the pupils is attained through a 
proper arrangement of the program of work. Not only this, 
but great economy is effected thereby.^ "The program," 
says Rosenkranz,^ "must assign the exact amount of time 
which can be appropriated to each study. It must prescribe 
the order in which they shall follow each other, it must, as 
far as possible, unite kindred subjects, so as to avoid the 
useless repetition which dulls the charm of study; it must, 
in determining the order, bear in mind at the same time 
the necessity imposed upon the subject itself and the 
psychological progression of intelligence from perception, 
through conception, to the thinking activity which grasps 
all." 

The powers of the child are most active in the early part 
of the day, and these powers diminish with each succeeding 
period. A period of rest or recess recuperates the strength 
in part, dependent upon its nature and length. Wliile all 
subjects will necessarily lose something by being placed 
at the later period when the intellectual vitahty is weakened, 
some will suffer more than others. Thus mathematics, if 
placed at the end of the day after four or five hours of 
work, would suffer more than a subject requiring less 
concentration, like drawing, penmansliip, nature study ,or 
laboratory experiments. 

As the program should be arranged to secure the least 
waste and the greatest efficiency in the presentation of all 
the subjects, the following conclusions seem inevitable: 
(i) The subjects requiring closest attention, greatest use 
of the memory, and strictest accuracy should be placed in 

* See " Foundations of Education," chapter on "The Daily Program." 
' "Philosophy of Education," p. 133. 



THE ACT OF LEARNING 2// 

the early part of the day. This would mean reading for 
little children, tliis being their most important work, and 
mathematics for those more advanced. (2) Subjects next 
in difficulty, such as, history, science, geography, and 
formal grammar should follow. (3) Subjects requiring 
the least application should be placed toward the end of 
the session. (4) Inasmuch as the intellectual force dimin- 
ishes with increasing ratio, it follows that with young 
children long sessions should be discouraged, and that 
there should be frequent recesses during the day. (5) 
Alternation and variety in the program will add to the 
efficiency of the work and serve to keep up the interest of 
the pupils. (6) For these reasons, the work of the elemen- 
tary school should be assigned to grade rather than depart- 
mental teachers. 

Means of Learning. — There are three ways by which 
we learn, namely, (i) experience, (2) the written or 
printed page, and (3) oral instruction. Some of the most 
important lessons of life are learned through experience 
and can be learned in no other way. Indeed, in the early 
years this is the chief means of learning. Through the senses 
a person gains knowledge of the things he experiences. 
It has been said that the child learns as much during his 
first seven years as he learns during the remainder of his 
life. This statement may well be questioned, for, although 
it is remarkable how much is learned during these years, 
it must not be forgotten that whatever knowledge is already 
gained opens the door, through the apperceptive process, 
to new knowledge. Thus the possession of one language 
prepares the way for the acquirement of a second, and the 



278 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

possession of two or three languages makes the learning 
of another still more easy. It is an illustration of the 
truth, "To him that hath, shall be given." It is difficult 
to measure all that a child of seven possesses. He is ac- 
quainted with perhaps a thousand words of his mother 
tongue, and knows the names of common objects and 
many of their qualities; is familiar with his environment and 
knows how to adjust himself to it; his eye has learned to 
see, his ear to hear, liis hand to weigh and handle; he has 
learned to control his body, direct its movements, and 
perform acts of skill and agility; in a word, a child of 
seven has met and removed many estrangements, is well 
on the way toward a mastery of the world's mysteries. 
But in each of the years that follow, if there be no cessation 
of effort, the progress may continue with accelerated speed 
as long as life lasts. His vocabulary of one thousand words 
has been multiplied many times ; literature, art, science, 
history, have brought their riches to him. A trade or 
profession may have been mastered by him. In the first 
case, the child begins with nothing but the capacity to 
learn; in the second case, he still possesses that capacity, 
and has the impetus which the experience, the training, 
the knowledge already gained give him. He has added 
to experience, as a means of learning, the power to read, 
and facility in learning from others. 

It is not suggested that experience ceases with the early 
years. As long as we live it will continue to be a means 
of learning. "We learn to do by doing," says Comenius, 
and much of the work of the school requires that pupils 
shall personally experiment. The trade or profession that 
one selects cannot be mastered by reading books, or 



THE ACT OF LEARNING 279 

listening to lectures; it is necessary that the novice shall 
have actual experience before he attains the full measure 
of proficiency. 

Text-Books. — The second means by which we learn is 
through printed or written characters. In the words of 
Rosenkranz,* "What we learn through books forms a 
contrast to that which we learn through living. Life forces 
upon us its wisdom; the book, on the contrary, is entirely 
passive. It is locked up in itself; it cannot be altered; but 
it waits by us till we wish to use it. We can read it rapidly 
or slowly; we can simply turn over its leaves — what in 
modern tjmeg one calls reading — we can read it from 
beginning to end or from end to beginning; we can stop, 
begin again, skip over passages, or cut them short, as we 
like. To this extent the book is the most convenient means 
for instruction," The hieroglyphics on the Egyptian 
monuments, or the tablets found in the library of Nippur 
are utterly meaningless unless some one possesses the key 
of interpretation, unless they can be read. The same is 
true of the characters in a reading book to the child when 
he first sees them. They must be interpreted to him, that 
is, he must be taught to read as his first and most important 
work in order that he may be able to take advantage of 
this means of self-instruction. It prepares him to use the 
text-book, which certainly has a place in the school. While 
it is true that the old-time servile adherence to the text- 
book on the part of the teacher is not to be countenanced, 
it is equally true that it cannot be abandoned. It would 
seem folly to expect the average teacher to be capable of 

* "Philosophy of Education," p. 121. 



280 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

planning consecutive work, arranging its details, and pro- 
viding suitable material such as an author could do w^ho 
has devoted many years to this work, and who perhaps has 
himself taught the subject many times and is therefore 
giving the results of rich experience. And if teachers were 
capable of doing this, how many could devote the neces- 
sary time to such work in addition to the burden of daily 
tasks? And that, too, for each of the many subjects they 
are called upon to teach. 

While the use of text-books by the teacher is advocated, 
it hardly need be said that he should have such a mastery 
of the subject-matter and the method as to be free 
from dependence upon the book during the process of 
instruction. The text-book should be a guide both to 
teacher and pupils, indicating the proper subjects to be 
treated, inviting to steady and systematic progress, and 
leading to perfect unity and completeness. 

Text- books should be clear in the presentation of mate- 
rial, accurate in statement, attractive in their mechanical 
construction, possess suitable and artistic illustrations, be full 
enough to meet the end for which they are intended, but 
not too full, and be clothed in language that is easily com- 
prehended by the pupil. It is no credit to an author to 
present his material in obscure and unnecessarily technical 
terms under the mistaken notion of profundity. 

Oral Instruction. — The third means of instruction is the 
oral or lecture method. This is the most direct and 
common medium of conveying knowledge. "Since speech 
is the natural and original form in which the mind mani- 
fests itself, no book can rival it. The living word is the 



THE ACT OF LEARNING 28 1 

most powerful agent of instruction. ... In two cases 
especially is it indispensable: one is when some knowledge 
is to be communicated which is in process of discovery 
and as yet is found in no compendium; and the other when 
a living language is to be taught, for in this case the printed 
page is entirely inadequate." ^ 

With young children the catechetical method must 
chiefly be employed. They must be called upon to answer 
specific questions; they must be allowed to take part in the 
exercise. Only by sympathetic and mutual participation 
in the work by teacher and pupil can the best results be 
obtained. With adult students the lecture method may 
be adopted. The progress is more rapid and the students 
possess the power of continued concentration which enables 
them to listen with profit for an extended period. 

Agencies of Instruction. — The three agencies employed 
in the work of instruction are the family, the tutor, and the 
school. The family, which has the child exclusively 
during the earliest years, begins his educational career and 
prepares the way for later progress. We have seen 
(Chapter XII) that owing to the complexity of modern 
life it is practically impossible for the family to continue 
and complete the formal education of the child, hence 
the necessity for other agencies. 

In general, two courses are open to parents when the 
time arrives for them to choose the manner of continuing 
the education of their children, namely, the tutor and the 
school. The advantages of the tutorial plan may be 
stated as follows: (i) the direct and personal influence of 

* " Rosenkranz, " p. 124. 



282 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

the teacher may be most powerful; (2) the teaching is 
individual and therefore the progress may be measured 
entirely by the ability of the pupil; (3) personal characteris- 
tics of the pupil may be considered and met; (4) the 
method employed may be suited to the individual. The 
disadvantages, on the other hand, may be noted as follows: 
(i) there is danger of cultivating a spirit of selfishness and 
egotism on the part of the pupil inasmuch as he is the 
center of thought and effort; (2) there is lack of the inspira- 
tion which comes from measuring his strength with others 
of the same age and ability — it is a good tiling for a boy 
to meet others in both physical and intellectual con- 
tests, even if he sometimes suffers defeat, for that is what 
he must do later in life; (3) there is danger that the pupil 
may depend too much upon his teacher and therefore fail 
to gain the self-reliance which comes from exercising one's 
powers to the full limit; (4) pupils in a class learn from 
each other in reciting — frequent repetition, struggle 
of the others to overcome difficulties, hearing the difi"erent 
presentations of the teacher in order to make the lesson 
clear to all, variety of discussions both by teacher and pupils, 
use of language suitable to the intellectual advancement of 
the whole class — all these tend to fix the material in a 
way that is impossible when the pupil is taught alone. 

The third agency of instruction, and the one that reaches 
by far the largest proportion of the youth, is the school. 
We have already shown the office that the school is to per- 
form (p. 180). It now remains to consider the different 
kinds of schools and their office. The generally accepted 
nomenclature of schools in tliis country is as follows: 



THE ACT OF LEARNING 283 

1. The elementary school — which takes the children at 
five or six and continues their education for about eight 
years. The work that should be demanded of this school 
has already been outlined in this chapter. 

2. The secondary school — which receives children who 
have completed the elementary school and in a four years' 
course prepares them for college, or some other institution 
of learning, or for business. There is a decided move- 
ment towards shortening the elementary course to six years 
and making the secondary course two years longer, that is, 
six years. The argument for this change may be briefly 
stated as follows: (i) A very large proportion of the pupils 
remain in school only till about their twelfth year ; there- 
fore a course should be arranged that would be approxi- 
mately complete at that time. (2) This is the beginning of 
the adolescent period when great physical changes take 
place in the child, and therefore a decided change in the 
method of instruction and the material offered is essential. 
(3) Many of the subjects that belong peculiarly to the sec- 
ondary school require more than four years for their com- 
pletion. Some of them should be begun earlier than is 
now common, especially languages, which require a great 
deal of memoriter work in learning vocabularies, accidents, 
and rules. The memory is more retentive before than after 
the fourteenth year, (See p. 250.) (4) If started in 
the high school course at twelve, the child is more 
likely to continue longer in school than under present 
conditions. At fourteen he is restless, eager for change, 
desirous of earning money. Hence if the elementary course 
closes at that time, and a new epoch confronts him, the 
chances are that he will choose to leave school, if allowed 



284 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

free choice. If, however, he has already had two years of high 
school work and has become interested in it, and not being 
confronted with the question of choice at the more critical 
period, it is probable that he will continue his course. 
These reasons seem strong and forcible enough to warrant 
a consideration of this change, a scheme that corresponds 
with that outlined by Comenius in his "Great Didactic," 
and that is in vogue in European schools, as well as in 
many preparatory schools in this country. 

3. The undergraduate school or college — which admits 
students from the preparatory school and offers them 
a course usually four years in extent, culminating in a 
Bachelor's degree. Some institutions make it possible to 
shorten this course to three years, or even two, thereby 
enabling the student to begin his professional study earlier. 

4. The graduate school, or university — which offers 
courses in law, medicine, philosophy, etc., and prepares 
the student for the learned professions. The term univer- 
sity is lacking in well-defined meaning in this country, many 
institutions having assumed the title without sufficient 
grounds. President Butler offers some valuable sugges- 
tions on this point as follows:^ "The distinction between 
the function of the college and that of the university which 
becomes clearer day by day to the student of education, 
has thus far proved too subtle to reach the understanding 
and too commonplace to satisfy the pride of the American 
people; for the existing terminology inextricably confuses 
colleges and universities, and sometimes even institutions 
that are little more than secondary schools, and it taxes 

* "The Meaning of Education," p. 125. 



THE ACT OF LEARNING 285 

the patience and skill of the expert to disentangle them. If 
we cut the Gordian knot by allowing every institution 
founded for any form or phase of higher education to clas- 
sify itself by the name that it assumes, then there are no 
fewer than one hundred and thirty-four universities in the 
United States" (1890). Dr. Butler defines a university as 
an "institution where students, adequately trained by previous 
study of the liberal arts and sciences, are led into special fields 
of learning and research by teachers of high excellence and 
originality ; and where, by the agency of libraries, museums, 
laboratories, and publications, knowledge is conserved, 
advanced, and disseminated." 

5. Special schools would include all those that fall out- 
side of the foregoing traditional scheme. The variety of 
these schools, together with those already described, affords 
opportunity for youth to pursue almost any educational 
aim desired. 

Management of the School. — The external management 
of the school is vested in the board of education, and the 
internal management belongs to the professional expert, 
the teacher. It is the office of the school board to furnish 
the necessary equipment and supplies, to appoint teachers 
and provide for their support, to make necessary regula- 
tions for the control of the school, and to sustain the 
teachers in the enforcement of discipline and in carrying 
out the work of the school. To the teachers belong the 
formulation of the course of study and its successful enforce- 
ment, the maintenance of discipline, the duty of instruc- 
tion, and the direct furtherance of the educational purpose. 
This belongs to them because of their professional training 



286 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

and their expert knowledge. The function of the school 
will best be subserved when these relations between school 
boards and teachers are understood, and when they respec- 
tively fulfil the duties devolving upon them. The chief 
purpose of the establishment and maintenance of the school, 
and of the preparation and consecration of teachers, is that 
the children may be properly instructed. Around tliis 
thought should center all the effort and all the zeal of the 
school. 

Summary 

I. The principal work of the school is instruction. The 
idea of instruction presupposes a difference between teacher 
and pupil. The purpose of instruction is to cancel that 
difference. The formal education of a large part of the 
children ceases with the elementary school. Hence it is 
essential that the stage of educational apprenticeship shall 
he successfully passed during this period. That is, the 
child should have learned how to direct his further culture in 
case he can no longer attend school. 

II. The skill of the teacher is put to test in his treatment 
of children of different capacities — the dull, the mediocre, 
and the talented. Patience, wisdom, and pedagogical knowl- 
edge are necessary in order that he may bring out the best 
there is in each. 

III. The course of study is an expression of the accu- 
mulated wisdom and experience of educators of all ages. It 
is a systematic plan of work, which must include such sub- 
jects as are necessary to accomplish the purpose it sets out to 
attain. These subjects must be so arranged as to be sequen- 



THE ACT OF LEARNING 28/ 

tial, and harmonious in their relation to each other. There 
should be a perfect unity from the beginning to the end of 
the course. 

IV. The daily program should be so arranged as to place 
the subjects requiring closest attention, strictest accuracy, and 
greatest use of the memory early in the day. Subjects next 
in difficulty should follow, and those requiring least appli- 
cation should be placed near the close of the session. 

V. We learn by experience, by the printed page, and 
through oral instruction. Each of these agencies must be 
utilized in the work of education, as each has a separate office 
to fulfil. 



CHAPTER XVII 

WILL TRAINING 

References. — Morgan, Studies in Pedagogy; Dutton, Social 
Phases of Education ; Wiggin, Children's Rights ; Shearer, Morals 
and Manners ; White, Elements of Pedagogy ; also, School Man- 
agement ; Adler, Moral Instruction of Children ; Coler, Character 
Building ; Forbush, The Boy Problem ; Griggs, Moral Education ; 
Mark, Individuality and the Moral Aim in Education ; Baker, 
Education and Life ; Smith, Systematic Methodology ; Ogden, 
Science of Education. 

The Will. — The discussion of the nature of the will 
belongs to the field of ethics on the one hand and psycho- 
logy on the other, — ethics as the science of human duty 
and psychology as the science of the activities of the mind. 
We have already seen that the science of education is based 
upon both ethics and psychology. This fact must be 
accepted without entering into consideration of the prin- 
ciples of ethics or the laws of mental development. As 
pedagogy seeks to make application of ethical and psycho- 
logical laws to education, a discussion of the training of the 
will is peculiarly fitting in a treatise on pedagogy. (See 

P- 3-) 

Will may be defined as that faculty or power of the soul 

which enables it to choose, determine, and direct its own 
actions. The child does not possess this power at the 
beginning, and it is the office of education to train his will 
so that he may control his appetites, direct his activities, 
make wise choice of opportunity, and hold himself under 

288 



WILL TRAINING 289 

constant self-command. "In childhood," says Smith,^ 
"this power (of the will) is relatively small and should be 
exercised for only a brief period at a time; most of the 
actions are then impulsive, or at least non- voluntary. It is 
well that this is so, for a strong will should be coupled with 
a strong judgment. This latter the child does not possess, 
and he must therefore submit to the guidance of the maturer 
judgments of others. Having the faculty of self-direction 
in but a small degree, he is more easily diverted, and thus 
managed in accordance with reason at a time when it would 
be useless to attempt to reason with him. But as reason 
develops we should gradually withdraw from him the 
interference of outside authority." 

Speaking of the will, Bittenger says,^ "It is the monarch 
of the mind, ruling with despotic, and at times with tyran- 
nical powers. It is the rudder of the mind, giving direc- 
tion to its movements. It is the engineer giving course and 
point, speed and force, to the mental machinery. It acts 
like a tonic among the soul's languid powers. It is the bond 
that ties into a strong bundle the separate faculties of the 
soul. It is the man's momentum; in a word, it is that 
power by which the energy or energies of the soul are con- 
centrated on a given point or in a particular direction; 
it fuses the faculties into one mass, so that instead of 
scattering all over like grape and canister, they spend their 
united force on qpe point." 

The will is susceptible of discipline, and educators should 
give far more attention to its training than is common. We 
see, hear, taste, feel, imagine, think, remember, act, largely 

^ " Systematic Methodology," p. 72. 

' Quoted from Ogden, " Science of Education," p, 228. 



290 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

because we will to do these things. "In short," says 
Coler, "it is the will that has, or may be made to have the 
controlling influence over body, over intellect, over sen- 
sibility, and over conduct." We may then turn our atten- 
tion to the means of securing proper will-training. 

I. The first step in training the will is to teach absolute 
and unquestioning obedience to authority. — This should 
begin very early, as soon as the child consciously resists 
authority, which is long before he enters school, and there- 
fore is a duty devolving upon the parents. While no 
specific age can be given as to when the child first under- 
stands a command, no intelligent person having charge of 
a child is long in doubt as to when it is consciously dis- 
obedient. (See p. 149.) It may be remarked that the 
American parent is averse to the idea of "breaking the 
will" of the child, ha\'ing the false notion that to require 
him to submit to a stronger will is to make him cowering 
and weak, — in a word, that it robs him of spirit, of courage, 
of that independence which should characterize the citizen 
of a republic. Nothing is farther from the truth, either 
in theory or practice. Breaking a colt to harness, if prop- 
erly done, does not spoil him, it makes him of value; it 
certainly does not destroy his ambition or take away his 
spirit. The child must be taught to submit his will to the 
guidance of others who possess judgment and wisdom, 
until he is capable of self-direction. And when that power 
is gained he will be able to control appetite, govern his 
temper, make the right choice, and act up to his con- 
victions when a choice has been made. Therefore the 
bringing of the child to submit to the will of one of ripe 
judgment and wise discretion is an act of wisdom of great 



WILL TRAINING 29 1 

pedagogical and ethical significance. The parent that fails 
to teach this lesson fails in a God-given duty, and the earlier 
it is taught the easier it will be, and the better for all con- 
cerned. As we have said, the lesson of obedience should 
be taught as soon as the cliild consciously resists authority, 
and if so taught, the first step towards a proper conception 
of the child's relation to parents, to teachers, and to the 
community at large has been taken. It will do much 
towards preparing the individual for that respect for law 
and authority which is essential to good citizenship and to 
a maintenance of a proper relation to liis fellow-men. 

In learning to obey the child yields his will to superior 
wisdom and authority, but through this act he does not 
surrender his freedom. Freedom has been defined as, 
" That condition which is brought about by an implicit 
obedience to all just law. Whether the law is moral, natural, 
or civil, the individual is free witliin each domain, only 
in proportion to liis obedience within that domain. He 
may be a free man in the civil sense and be in moral bond- 
age."^ Thus in teaching the child early to obey, he is pre- 
pared for freedom in its widest, truest, and best sense. 

2. In the second place, the child's will is trained by 
teaching him to conform to social usages and customs. — 
"The pupil must become civilized; i.e., ht must learn to 
govern, as a thing external to him, his natural egotism, and 
to make the forms which civilized society has adopted his 
own." Man by nature is a social being. The child is 
born into family life, and he must learn to conform to the 
requirements of the home, — respect for and obedience to 

' Smith, " Systematic Methodology," p. 75. 



292 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

his parents, acknowledgment of the rights of brothers and 
sisters, proper treatment of other members of the house- 
hold. The training in social usages is best carried out in 
large families where the occasion to share benefits is fre- 
quent and where unselfishness is engendered. Where there 
is but a single child he is apt to be egotistical and self- 
centered. His opportunities to learn the requirements of 
society are fewer because of the limited number of occasions 
to practice the ordinary virtues of social contact. We 
have seen that the family first of all must inculcate implicit 
obedience. Although this duty rests upon the family, its 
influence extends out into life, — to the school, to the State, 
to contact with men. So, too, the social usages, which 
are adopted first for the maintenance of right relations 
among the members of the family, should be those that 
society in general requires in order that the child may be 
prepared to act his part among men with intelligence and 
urbanity. Rosenkranz says,^ "The family, however, edu- 
cates the children, not for itself but for civil society. In 
the latter a system of manners and customs is formed 
which furnishes a social formula or fixed code of etiquette 
to determine the behavior of the individual in society. 
This social code endeavors to subdue the natural roughness 
of man, at least as far as it manifests itself externally." 

The family must therefore not limit its instruction in 
social forms to its own requirements, it must also prepare 
the child to conform to the usages of the world. Only 
when these usages are consistently and systematically prac- 
ticed in the home may we expect the child unconsciously 
and habitually to practice them in society. And this 
* "Pliilosophy of Education," p. 145. 



WILL TRAINING 293 

politeness must exist in spirit as well as in form. The 
spirit of politeness is unselfishness; the form consists in 
those usages or acts of conduct common to any particular 
people or age. The spirit of politeness is a universal prin- 
ciple which cannot be circumscribed by artificial boundaries 
or confined to any age. It is best exemplified by conform- 
ity to the Golden Rule of the Great Teacher. The forms 
of politeness may vary in different ages or in different lands. 
Thus the formal etiquette of the days of chivalry is differ- 
ent from that of the present; and many of the forms of 
politeness required in Japan or China or Germany vary 
materially from those of America. Although the spirit of 
politeness is the more essential, the child must learn to 
conform to the usages in practice in the country in which 
he lives; he should also learn that in visiting other countries 
good breeding requires a certain conformity to their usages. 
In this sense, "when one is in Rome one must do as the 
Romans do." To ignore such established customs and 
follow one's own peculiar ideas of etiquette is likely to bring 
odium upon the individual and to arouse unfriendly criti- 
cism. Henry James illustrates this in his story, "Daisy 
Miller." 

Dr. Harris says: "The object of the social code is to 
subdue the natural rudeness that belongs to man as a mere 
animal, and thus clothe the brutal with garb of unselfish 
forms. The essence of politeness consists in treating 
others as if they were perfectly ideal people. The polite 
person utterly ignores all rudeness shown him, and treats 
others as if they intended the same politeness toward him. 
He prefers others before himself, and adopts as a second 
nature the form of divine charity or 'altruism,' which 



294 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

devotes itself to the good of others. Politeness is only the 
form of this altruism; morality and religion are the sub- 
stance of it. Since the form of politeness is the same for 
all, — the same for the king as for the beggar — it follows 
that politeness is the ceremonial form by which we cele- 
brate the equality of all men in the substance of their 
humanity. 'All are equal before God,' and also before 
the ideal of politeness." 

This training in social usages, then, becomes one of the 
most essential duties of the home. The child must recognize 
that he owes certain duties to others and to society. In this 
connection a caution is to be observed. The cliild must be 
taught to be on his guard against the insincerity of the 
world. " We must teach the youth that he may be imposed 
upon by cunning dissimulation and hypocrisy, and there- 
fore he must not give liis confidence lightly and credu- 
lously. He must learn how he can, without using deceit, 
gain his own ends in the midst of the throng of opposing 
interests." The child that is brought up in a home where 
there is mutual confidence between its members, where 
there is an atmosphere of truth and genuineness, where 
love controls and where selfishness has no place, is likely 
to believe in all the rest of the world. Such confidence is 
beautiful, but unfortunately the child must be prepared to 
find that society in general does not measure up to this 
ideal. "This duty is painful, because the child naturally 
feels an unlimited confidence in all men. This confidence 
must be modified and restricted but not destroyed." On 
the other hand, while the individual must be sufficiently 
guarded against the insincerity of the world, he must not 
be made unduly suspicious. It is unfortunate to become 



WILL TRAINING 295 

imbued with the belief that most men are dishonest and 
that in every transaction there is danger of an attempt to 
cheat on the part of some one. A certain amount of confi- 
dence in the integrity of mankind is necessary for business, 
for social intercourse, and for peace of mind. Therefore 
the child must be taught that although he may not expect 
the same generosity and disinterestedness in the world 
that he has been accustomed to in the home, yet there is a 
great deal of goodness in the world, and a great many 
places where confidence may well be bestowed. 

There is a certain amount of danger that every cliild must 
encounter when he goes out from his home. . No parent 
will voluntarily thrust a child into temptation ; and yet there 
are temptations that must be met, and the wise parent 
will allow liis children to mingle with other children, 
watcliing over and safeguarding them in every possible 
way until they become strong and self-reliant. The public 
school should possess so high a moral tone that it will be 
perfectly safe to send any cliild to it. When this is the 
case there is no more wholesome or more suitable place for 
a child to obtain the will-training secured through acquain- 
tance with and participation in social usages and customs. 

3. The child's will is trained through the formation of 
habits. — Among the habits that have a direct bearing upon 
the will may be mentioned the habit of self-mastery, self- 
control, politeness, obedience to duty, respect for the right 
of others, industry, temperance. Habit is formed by the 
repetition of an act until it becomes unconscious and 
almost automatic. We have shown (p. 12) that the chief 
end of education is to form good character. Character has 
been defined as "a bundle of habits "; therefore in training 



296 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

the will to form right habits the highest aim of education 
is sought. "It is the voluntary or will element in human 
action that gives it moral quality. Moral training involves 
the right training of the will," says White. Parents should 
therefore lead their children to repeat voluntarily such acts 
as will tend to form good habits, and this work should be 
definitely and systematically continued by the teacher. 
The child should not only be taught the difference between 
right and wrong, but he should be encouraged to choose the 
right repeatedly until the principle is established in him. 
Through his own voluntary choice, through an exercise of 
the will, he thus builds character. 

Obedience to Duty is one of the most essential habits 
to be acquired. Concerning the idea of duty, Rosen- 
kranz remarks,^ "We must accustom the pupil to uncon- 
ditional obedience to it, so that he shall perform it for no 
other reason than that it is duty. The performance of a 
duty may bring with it externally a result agreeable or dis- 
agreeable, useful or harmful; but the consideration of such 
consequences ought never to determine us. Tliis moral 
demand, though it may appear excessive severity, is the 
absolute foundation of all genuine ethical practice." 

It may be remarked that the practice of hiring a child 
to do liis duty is pernicious in the extreme. It teaches him 
to expect a reward for the mere doing of duty. The virtue 
of the performance of an act lies in the willingness to do it 
as a pure act of duty. To pay a child for every errand 
run, to secure obedience through some compensation, 
establishes a low and selfish motive. There are many 

' " Philosophy of Education," p. 150. 



WILL TRAINING 297 

duties in life that must be performed without hope of direct 
reward. To reduce church, temperance, hospital, and other 
benevolent work to the basis of financial reward is to rob 
these activities of their altruistic motive and minimize the 
blessings that come from such endeavor. Therefore the 
child should early learn to perform many acts freely and 
without expectation of pay; and by proper training he will 
learn to perform them willingly and cheerfully. This 
training will be a good preparation for activity in the many 
fields of benevolent and gratuitous service which are always 
open to zealous and consecrated men, and which make the 
world better. And such altruistic spirit will harmonize 
with the teaching of the Holy Word, "It is more blessed to 
give than to receive." 

A keen sense of duty will also have a great influence in 
solving the labor problem. It will require employers 
equitably to share the profits of their business with their 
employees in wages, perquisites, or other emoluments, 
after a fair return on their investment is assured. On the 
other hand, it will require the employees to further the 
interests of their employers by diligent service, by zeal and 
industry, and by honestly, faithfully, and intelligently doing 
their best work. There should be greater stress laid upon 
the assumption and discharge of duty, and the school must 
take its share of tliis responsibihty. 

Emphasis has been given to the cultivation of a sense of 
duty; it is not to be inferred, however, that other virtues 
are to be neglected. Industry, self-control, temperance, 
honesty, truthfulness, and all the other virtues must be taught. 
Dr. Harris well remarks, "No virtue may be neglected for 
another. The worst results follow from the habit of pro- 



298 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

crastinating the performance of a duty or the indulgence 
of a weakness until a fixed day. The person who 'turns 
over a new leaf on an important epoch is apt to turn it 
back again soon after. The wiU must not be trifled with. 
Duty must be obeyed now. To permit a temporary lapse 
from virtue occasionally is as inadmissible as allowing 
one's self now and then a misstep in ascending a flight of 
stairs. Such missteps undo the whole work." 

Each of the virtues should receive definite attention in 
early childhood, so that conformity to them becomes a 
habit. The will is the most important agency in the for- 
mation of habit and in the establisliment of character. Hence 
attention given to will-training is directly in harmony with 
the purpose of education as pointed out in Chapter II, on 
the Aim of Education. 

4. The ultimate end of will-training is reached when the 
individual is capable of governing himself — The cliild 
must be guided in his earlier years by a will stronger than 
his own; but the end to be sought is to bring liim to be 
able safely to direct his own life. He must be exercised 
in the art of self-government until he is capable of acting 
wisely and independently. This training should accustom 
him to freedom in its truest sense. He will learn that in 
the society of men, absolute freedom is impossible, that 
the rights of others must be considered. To illustrate this 
point: A family were in the habit of drumming on the 
piano at all times of the day and night, much to the annoy- 
ance of their neighbors on the other side of the thin parti- 
tion wall. On one occasion when their neighbor was ill, 
and after the noise had continued till midnight, a request 
came politely asking for a cessation of the nuisance. The 



WILL TRAINING 299 

reply was, "This is a free country and we will do as we 
please," and they continued to play. They forgot that 
it is a free country for the people on the other side of the 
wall also, and that they had no right to trespass on their 
rights. This false conception of freedom is much too 
common, and our schools should teach that true freedom 
takes into account the rights of other men. "Education," 
says Rosenkranz, "aims at accustoming the youth to free- 
dom, so that he shall always measure liis deed by the idea 
of the good. . . . The pedagogical maxim is, then: Be 
independent, but be so through doing good." 

This conception of freedom is doubly essential in a 
country that boasts of its liberty, a country in wliich 
the people are rulers. As an outgrowth of the false idea 
that every man is free to do as he pleases regardless of 
others, we have bosses, ring government, and grafting in 
politics; heartless corporations that stifle competition and 
drive to the wall small concerns that stand in their way; 
greed and selfishness on the part of capitalists on the one 
hand, and arrogance and tyranny on the part of the unions, 
which compel men to join their ranks or starve, on the 
other hand. As a result we have increase in peculation 
and crime that is already appalling. Perhaps the gravest 
of these tendencies is the attitude of trade unions which 
do not permit a man to dispose of liis labor to whom 
he will and under such terms as he pleases. A very 
vital principle of freedom is attacked if this claim of 
the unions is allowed. A man should be free to join a 
labor organization if he will, and he has a right to decline 
to work under conditions that are unacceptable to him; 
but his neighbor is equally free to withhold his alliance 



300 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

with the union and to work if the terms satisfy him. In 
a word, I may work or not as I please, but I am not free 
to prevent my neighbor from working even if he chooses 
to do so upon terms unacceptable to me. The govern- 
ment that cannot protect me in that right, that cannot 
enforce tliis idea of freedom, is weak and incapable of 
protecting its citizens, and therefore does not deserve to 
exist. A free government must guarantee to all its citi- 
zens equal rights and privileges before the law. 

Under a free government this high conception of educa- 
tion, namely, that which "accustoms the youth to freedom," 
can best be reached. Absolute forms of government 
must necessarily restrict the individual and give him false 
ideas of freedom, for it must be remembered that the 
State also as a protecting, controlling, and governing body 
is a factor in education. (See p. 191.) Under absolute 
forms of government education in the highest sense, that 
is, education that sets free, that makes the individual 
capable of governing himself, can never be attained. 

The home, as it offers wider opportunities to the child 
to control his own actions, should train him to freedom. 
The school, which seeks through its discipline to lead the 
child to act, not under the watchful eye of the teacher 
to follow mere rules and commands, but from inner impulse 
and from liigh personal ideals and from a sense of individ- 
ual responsibility, — such a school is in the highest sense 
training the will, and preparing the child to be self-govern- 
ing. Placing the child on his honor * in school prepares 
him to exercise freedom of choice, to act from his own 

* See p. 74 of my "School Management" for a full discussion of the 
principle. 



WILL TRAINING 3OI 

sense of right rather than blindly to follow a rule that the 
teacher has promulgated for his observance. In every case 
he decides liis action upon the principle of right and wrong 
rather than upon that of keeping a rule in order to escape 
its penalties. He is constantly exercising liis own will 
instead of subordinating himself to the will of another. 
He thus, guided by his teacher to a discriminating sense 
of etliical action, becomes a law unto liimself, establishing 
a principle which he must follow later in life when no 
longer under the guidance of a teacher. This should 
lead to good citizensliip in a country where he is called 
upon to exercise liis freedom as a patriot, as a member of 
the body politic, and of society. Hence the right kind of 
discipline in school becomes as truly an essential element 
in preparing the child for self-government as the material 
of the curriculum does. 

5. The result attained will be manifest in good character. 
It has been pointed out in former pages of this book that 
the supreme purpose of education is the formation of 
character. This is no new proposition, character-build- 
ing having always been the end sought by educators, 
even though tliis doctrine had not been specifically for- 
mulated, and was not definitely fixed in the consciousness 
of the instructor. The Herbartian School of pedagogy 
lays great stress upon character-building as the central 
thought of school work; they also teach that character is 
nothing less than a rightly trained will. We have seen 
that the formation of habits is a will process. If most of 
the habits are good we say the character is good, and if 
most of the habits are bad the character is bad. Hence 
the great work of education is to lead the pupil volun- 



302 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

tarily to adopt good habits and to establish them through 
repeated virtuous acts and right hving. If education fails 
to form good habits it increases the power to do evil 
because it equips the individual to be the more acute in 
roguery. Education that fails in fixing a moral basis 
thus makes the man the more dangerous to society. 

Finally, "the consideration of the culture of character 
leads to the subject of conscience," says Rosenkranz. 
Dr. Harris defines conscience as ^^ the criticism which 
the ideal self makes on the realized self." This definition will 
stand the test of scrutiny. Every man possesses certain 
ideals. These ideals may be high or low according to the 
teaching he has received and the environment in which he 
lives. His conscience will trouble him only when he fails 
to reach his own ideals. A boy is brought up in the slums, 
surrounded by thieves, accustomed to profanity and intem- 
perance, being perhaps liimself sent out to steal, and pun- 
ished or rewarded according to the success he has met 
with. His conscience will trouble him but little when he 
perpetrates a crime, because he has not violated his ideals. 
Another boy, brought up in a pure home, acquainted with 
the laws of God and man, nurtured in an atmosphere of 
etliical and Christian practice, will surely have higher ideals 
and therefore his conscience will hold him to a strict account 
concerning acts in which the other boy would not be dis- 
turbed in the least. A Hindu mother performs a religious 
act when she casts her child into the Ganges and satisfies 
her conscience by a deed which to a Christian mother 
would be murder and which could not fail to cause terrible 
remorse. The one loves her baby as truly as the other, 
but the difference in their feelings lies in the ideals which 



WILL TRAINING 303 

each possesses. It therefore is incumbent upon education 
o implant correct ideals as well as to train the pupil to 
live up to the ideals he has. 

Moral Training in the School. — Inasmuch as the moral 
side of education has so direct a bearing upon will- train- 
ing, as well as upon the practical things of life, we may 
well inquire what is the office of the school in this work? 
Mos American educators seem to be averse to formal 
lessons in morals, although Germany, France, England, 
and other countries have adopted such courses with excel- 
lent results In a few schools in this country such instruc- 
tion has been introduced also with satisfactory results. 
White very truly remarks,^ " Effective moral training involves 
the discipline of the will to act habitually in \dew of those 
motives which elease the soul from bondage to low and self- 
ish desires, and make the conscience regal in life," Super- 
intendent Carr, who has had a definite course in morals in 
his schools for some years, says: "The moral instruction of 
children is the highest duty imposed upon teachers. Many 
children receive little moral training at home; they attend 
neither church nor Sunday school; therefore, if they receive 
moral instruction at all, it must be in the pubhc schools. 
So whatever other work of tliis course is sHghted, the part 
pertaining to moral instruction should be carried out. 

"The aim of moral instruction is to teach the child to 
know, to love, and to do right. It therefore appeals to 
the intellect, the sensibihties, and the w^ill. While all 
children have a moral conscience, yet what is right and 
what is wrong must be taught to them the same as other 

' "Elements of Pedagogy," p, 314. 



304 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

facts. The moral judgment must be developed. This 
culture of the moral understanding should be accompanied 
by a heart culture that causes the child to love the good. 
The moral sensibilities need cultivation as well as the 
moral intellect. But the final outgrowth of the moral 
training is upright conduct, and unless this result is attained 
the training goes for naught. The child should be taught 
to he industrious, honest, truthful, obedient, patriotic, and 
reverential. His moral acts should be repeated until they 
become habits." 

The teaching of morals in the school should be syste- 
matic even though no fixed place be given to it in the daily 
program. The teacher should have a plan in mind that 
will insure methodical instruction in each of the virtues.* 
In carrying out such a plan he will utilize daily incidents 
gathered in the school and out of it and will take into 
account the home life and environment of his pupils. He 
will not neglect the physical condition of the children, 
which may have an important bearing upon their moral 
conduct. He will remember that suitable employment is 
an excellent safeguard against mischief. By suitable and 
artistic schoolroom decorations, and by attractive environ- 
ments, not only aesthetic but also ethical feelings will be 
inspired. From the lives of great men and from the 
pages of liistory abundant illustrative examples of noble 
living will be found. Literature, especially the Bible, will 
contribute suitable material for illustration and instruction 
concerning each of the virtues. Besides these things the 
teacher will be able to inculcate moral ideals and habits by 

For treatment of the teaching of school morals, see Chapter XI in my 
" School Management." 



WILL TRAINING 305 

means of the school discipline, by . the intermingling of 
pupils, by the maintenance of the rights of the respective 
children, by supervision of the recreation hours, as well as 
through the formal studies of the curriculum. 

Above all and most essential of all is the personal charac- 
ter of the teacher, v^hich is the most potent and effective 
moral influence in connection with the lives of school 
children. 

Summary 

I. Will is the faculty or power of the soul which enables 
it to choose, determine, and direct its own actions. It is the 
office of education so to train the will of the child that he will 
he able to maintain self-command. The will should have 
the controlling influence over body, intellect, sensibility, and 
conduct. 

II. Obedience to authority is the first step to be learned 
in will-training. In appropriating this lesson the child 
does not surrender his true freedom, which may be defified 
as the state or condition acquired through obedience to just 
and wholesome laws. 

III. The second step in will-training involves a con- 
formity to social usages and customs. Man is a social 
being and he must acquiesce in the laws of social order. The 
earlier he begins to comprehend this fact the better. The 
essence of politeness is unselfishness. Not only must there 
he the spirit of politeness but also a conformity to its forms. 

IV. Again, the will is trained through the exercise of 
choice. Frequent exercise of the will in the same way re- 



3o6 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

suits in habit. Obedience to duty should be inculcated as a 
principle of life. 

V. The end to be sought in will-training is the power of 
self-government. This requires consideration of the rights 
of others as well as assertion of one^s own rights. Educa- 
tion must " accustom the youth to freedom.''^ That educa- 
tion which emancipates man should be attained best under a 
free government. 

VI. The right training of the will should result in good 
character, the culture of which leads to the subject of con- 
science. Conscience may be defined as " the criticism which 
the ideal self makes on the realized self?'* 



CHAPTER XVIII 

RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 

References. — Coe, Education in Religion and Morals; Diirell, 
A New Life in Education; Crooker, Religious Freedom in Ameri- 
can Education; White, Elements of Pedagogy; Forhiish, The Boy 
Problem; Payne, Education of Teachers; Century Magazine, May, 
1900; Educational Review, Eebruar\', 1897; also October, 1903; 
N. E. A. Minutes of 1902 and 1903; Proceedings of the Religious 
Education Association; King, Personal and Ideal Elements in 
Education; Griggs, Moral Education; Tompkins, The Philosophy 
of Teaching; Spalding, Thought and Theories .of Life and Educa- 
tion; Sterrett, The Freedom of Authority ; Wishart, Primary Facts 
in Religious Thought. 

Religion a Universal Principle. — The religious instinct 
is innate with every human being. No race or tribe of 
people has been discovered that does not possess in the 
development of this inborn capacity some form of belief 
and worsliip. It may be the crudest fetich, the most 
debasing form of idolatry, the subtlest philosophy of 
paganism, or the highest and noblest form of Christianity. 
It is the cry of the soul to some power or some influence 
believed to possess the ability to aid in the hour of distress, 
to comfort in sorrow, or to avert evil. " Man has a religious 
nature," says Coe,^ "The definite establishment of this 
proposition is perhaps the greatest service that the history 
and psychology of religion have performed. Not very long 
ago men were still asking whether religion might not have 

^ "Education in Religion and Morals/' p. 57. 
307 



3o8 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

arisen through priestcraft or statecraft, or at least through 
some incidental feature of human experience. Religion 
was looked upon as a theory or belief which men had 
formed for themselves somewhat as we form our hypotheses 
of inhabitants in other planets. Some tribes were said to 
be entirely without religion, and hence it was inferred that 
religion does not belong to humanity as such. But the 
* tribe destitute of religion ' is found to be purely imagin- 
ary, and the history of religion begins its recital with the 
affirmation that man as such has a religious impulse out 
of which have sprung all the religions of the world." 

Recognizing the truth set forth in the foregoing state- 
ments, the educational systems of many countries provide 
religious instruction as a part of the regular school work, 
and outline a complete course in religion. Tliis is possible 
in countries where there is a state religion or where there 
is a limited number of religious confessions. It would be 
impossible in this country where Church and State are 
separate and where there are so many religious sects, — at 
least it would be impossible to enter into the discussion of 
religious dogmas in the public school. But it may be 
mentioned again, that the duty of education is not limited 
to the public school, — the school being only one factor 
in this work. (See Chap. XII.) It must also be remem- 
bered that the term education has a broader significance 
than the term instruction. American educators with 
considerable unanimity recognize the need of religious 
education. This is evidenced by the numerous articles 
on the subject that have appeared in educational journals, 
popular magazines, and other periodicals; in discussions 
that have taken place in teachers' gatherings; in the organ- 



RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 3^9 

ization of the Religious Education Association, and b}- the 
growing interest in the question everywhere felt. 

Dissatisfaction Manifest. — In an address before the 
National Educational Association at Minneapolis, in 1902, 
Dr. Nicholas Murray Butler remarked as follows: " I want 
to call attention to a phenomenon which is so universal that 
we do not notice it, — paradoxical though that sounds — but 
which, if it is permitted to continue, will one day produce 
startling results in our life and civilization. I refer to the 
facts that owing to a series of causes, operating over a con- 
siderable period of years, knowledge of the English Bible is 
passing out of the life of the rising generation, and that 
with the knowledge of the Bible there is fast disappearing 
any acquaintance with the religious element which has 
shaped our civilization from the beginning." 

This sentiment voiced the opinion of that great body of 
educators as shown later by the adoption of the following 
from the report of the committee on resolutions: "It is 
apparent that familiarity with the Enghsh Bible as a 
masterpiece of literature is rapidly decreasing among the 
pupils of our schools. This is the direct result of a concep- 
tion which regards the Bible as a theological book merely, 
and thereby leads to its exclusion from the schools of some 
States as a subject of reading and study. We hope for 
such a change of public sentiment in this regard as will 
permit and encourage the reading and study of the English 
Bible, as a literary work of the highest and purest type, 
side by side with the poetry and prose which it has inspired 
and in a large measure formed. We do not urge this in 
the interest of sectarian instruction of any kind, but that 



3IO ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

this great book may ever be the teacher's aid in the interpre- 
tation of history and literature, law and life — an unrivaled 
agency in the development of true citizenship as well as in 
the formation of pure hterary style." This was adopted 
"without dissent" as one of the declarations of principles 
of the Association. While tliis expression may not be inter- 
preted as a demand for positive religious instruction in the 
schools, it indicates a dissatisfaction with what is being 
done at present, and it will have a tendency to arouse 
further interest in this important matter. 

Education that Omits Religion is Incomplete. — Rosen- 
kranz summarizes this thought in the words,^ " Education 
must, therefore, accustom the youth to the idea that, in 
doing the good, he unites himself with God as with the 
absolute Person, but that in doing evil he separates him- 
self from Him. The consciousness that through his deed 
he comes into relation with God himself, affirmatively or 
negatively, deepens the moral standpoint with its formal 
obedience to the commands of virtue, to the standpoint of 
the heart that finds its all-sufficient principle in love." 
The philosophy of education as worked out by Rosen- 
kranz reaches its logical conclusion and completeness in 
the religious ideal. 

Arnold Tompkins says,^ "Education and religion must 
have some common, vital principle, in spite of the fact that 
they have been set over against each other as if they belonged 
to different categories, if not antagonistic. This sharp 
line of distinction often blinds to the best truth in both, 
leaving education without purity, holiness, faith, noble 

* " Philosophy of Education," p. 159. ' "Philosophy of Teaching," p. 271. 



RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 31 1 

purpose, a striving for perfect knowledge and harmony 
with God — with notliing but the sharp intellect either 
with or without character; and religion without beauty, 
fullness and vigor of life, large-mindedness, generous man- 
hood — with nothing but dogma and creed and formal 
piety. We hear that education is a doubtful factor, having 
to do with the intellect, and giving reckless power unless 
restrained by the religious heart; that it is an affair of this 
world to satisfy hunger and pride, while religion is for 
eternity, satisfying and saving the soul. 

"Religion is not a branch, a department, or anything 
that can be added to education; but rather vitalized, 
purified, and quickened blood. It is the attachment and 
devotion of every faculty of the soul to truth, beauty, and 
virtue. It includes man's whole being, — his tone and 
temper of life, purity of heart; his striving to know and feel 
the true, the permanent, the external source of all things; 
his tendency of life upward toward truth and God. What- 
ever else you may desire to include, so much are essential 
elements. Neither is education a branch, a department, 
or anything that can be added to religion. Education is 
to fix the tendency of life upward; to stimulate a striving 
for perfection of character; to enlighten and strengthen the 
native tendencies of the soul; to intensify and purify, 
broaden and deepen, refine and enrich life by all things 
true, beautiful, and good; and to establish the current of 
being in the safe channel of spiritual activity. Education 
is not power unqualified, but power regulated and directed 
to righteous ends. The work of education is fatally defec- 
tive which gives faculties power without the power of right 
direction, strength of life without right tendency of Ufe." 



312 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

What Religious Education Embraces. — It may be diffi- 
cult to outline the religious knowledge that is essential to a 
well-developed educational equipment. In discussing this 
question it must be reiterated that we are not thinking of 
the work of the school, or the teacher, or the home, or any 
other single agency. We have shown that the religious 
impulse is universal, affecting all mankind ; that it is a part 
of the education of every intelligent, self-conscious being, 
and that no life is complete without it. The consideration 
of it, then, logically follows as a part of educational philoso- 
phy. No theory of education is adequate that ignores it. 
That religion is a factor of civilization is too self-evident to 
require discussion. That it wonderfully affects all human 
action and influences individuals is also unquestioned. 
We may then ask, What religious knowledge is essential to 
a harmonious development, and what are the lessons in the 
sphere of religious thought and activity that every individual 
should learn? The following are the most essential of 
these lessons : 

I. Reverence. — Every child should learn to be reverent. 
Respect for the name of God, His house. His consecrated 
servants. His Word, and His works should be implanted in 
every life. There is far too much flippancy with regard to 
sacred things. In the home, in the school, everywhere, a 
spirit of reverence for those things that pertain to religion 
should always be inculcated. Surely no parent, whatever 
his creed, would object to this spirit being implanted and 
fostered in his children, even in the secular school. The 
rather, would not parents justly condemn the school that 
fails in this particular or that neglects this essential? 

Good breeding requires that one shall be reverent and 



RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 313 

respectful towards all things of a truly religious character, 
and the teaching of reverence need in no sense partake of 
the nature of a theological creed. Every 'intelligent, self- 
respecting, cultured person respects true religion, even if 
he makes no pretension to personal faith. It is a part of 
his education and every man owes it to himself to possess 
and maintain a reverent attitude. 

It cannot be too often repeated that the character of the 
teacher is the most vital and powerful agency in molding 
the lives of his pupils. The teacher therefore must be 
reverent in spirit as well as consistent in life. 

2. Knowledge of the Bible. — Famiharity with the 
Scriptures is essential in every walk in life in order to 
grasp the meaning of literature, art, science, and all the 
other evidences of civilization. "To appreciate the litera- 
ture, sculpture, painting, action, and indeed, all expres- 
sions of life during these Christian centuries, a knowledge 
of the basal sources of the Christian religion is essential. 
Consider, for instance, how necessary a knowledge of the 
Bible is to the appreciation of half the paintings in any 
European gallery. As the Bible is the great text-book of 
Christianity, so it is a source from which much of our civi- 
lization can be explained. The study of the history and 
sources of religion, prevalent in the society about the indi- 
vidual should have, therefore, an important place in the 
work we do in the history of culture."^ 

There should be freedom, therefore, to use the Bible in 
the school, not only for the devotional exercises, but also 
for a study of its historical data, its literature, and its moral 

* Griggs, "Moral Education," p. 281. 



314 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

teachings, as demanded by the great body of teachers of the 
National Educational Association in their declaration of 
principles cited earlier in this chapter. Many of its stories, 
especially of the Old Testament, are pecuHarly suited to 
the needs of young children. 

This can be done without arousing sectarian prejudice, 
or awakening religious animosity. It is being done all 
over the land by thousands of teachers and to the universal 
satisfaction of parents of all shades of belief. Unfortunately 
it is being neglected in the very place where most attention 
should be given to it, namely, the home. Numerous 
investigations recently made prove that there is a woful 
ignorance of the Bible among all classes of people, not 
excepting even people of culture and members of Christian 
churches. This is certainly retrogression from an educa- 
cational, to say nothing of religious standpoint. The 
teaching of the truths and precepts of God's Word is essen- 
tial as a safeguard to citizenship and as a means of pre- 
serving our institutions, which as we shall see later are 
founded upon religion. 

This age is characterized by zeal to know about the 
Bible rather than to know the Bible itself. Hence the 
many commentaries, "lesson helps," "lesson leaves," etc., 
which are employed in Sunday-school work. The use of 
these is not condemned if they are properly employed in 
connection with the Bible itself; but they are often employed 
as a substitute for the Bible, and utilized in learning about 
the Word, rather than leading to a direct acquaintance with 
it. Higher criticism has occupied the attention of scholars 
in recent years. While good may ultimately come from 
this, it must be said that the principal effect thus far mani- 



RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 315 

fest has been to lessen among the masses the reverence for 
God's Word as a statement of His eternal truth and pur- 
pose. We endorse Professor Coe when he says, "Happy the 
man whose memory is stored with truth in the forms of 
Biblical phraseology, for he has constant means of self- 
expression, and therefore of self-understanding." 

Instruction concerning reverence and the Bible, in a 
measure, at least, falls within the province of the school. 
The other lessons indicated as essential, namely, prayer, 
conception of religion, and initiation to the forms and 
ceremonies of religion, must be wholly relegated to other 
agencies. Therefore only brief reference will be made to 
them, although they constitute an important part in a 
complete education. 

3. Prayer. — As religion is a universal instinct, so 
prayer, which is the expression of the needs and desires of 
the soul, which by its very nature implies faith — belief in 
the Being addressed — and which embraces adoration, 
supplication, confession, and thanksgiving, should be taught 
to every child as a part of his education, his duty, and his 
privilege ; almost as soon as the child begins to talk it learns 
to lisp its simple prayer. Hence to the home belongs the 
supreme duty of teaching this religious exercise. 

4. A Conception of Religion. — "Religion," asserts 
Rosenkranz, "in common with every spiritual activity, must 
pass through three stages — feeling, conception, and 
comprehension. Whatever the special character of any 
religion may be, it cannot avoid the psychological neces- 
sity, either in its general history or in the history of the 
individual." Conception of religion must not stop with 



3l6 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

feeling, though this may be the earliest form of its experience 
and expression. It must go forward to such knowledge and 
such trust in God as will enable the individual not only to 
consecrate himself to God's service, but will also lead 
him to be reconciled to the will of the Almighty even in the 
midst of adversity. Rehgious feeling may exalt tempora- 
rily to a high state of ecstasy, but comprehension has been 
reached only when the soul, whatever the trials of life, is 
able fully to accept the words of the Apostle when he says, 
"And we know that all things work together for good to 
them that love God." 

5. Initiation into Religious Forms. — Lastly, education 
requires the child to be acquainted with the forms and 
ceremonies of the church and to be inducted into church 
membership. Modern investigation and experience have 
disproved Rousseau's theory, which holds that Emile at 
fifteen "will know nothing of history, nothing of humanity, 
nothing of art and hterature, notliing of God." At this 
age Rousseau asserts that Emile does not even know that 
he has a soul, and he thinks that perhaps the eighteenth 
year even is too early for him to learn this fact. The great 
Italian priest, Rosmini, had a truer conception of the child 
and its ability to enter into the thought and experience of 
religious Hfe. He writes as follows : ^ " Truly it is in vain that 
Rousseau pretends that worship of God is beyond the 
lisping of the infant tongue. On the contrary, the little 
child, as if nearer to its origin, seems to turn towards it 
with delight, to seek it with eagerness, and to find it more 
easily even than the adult; and it belongs to God rather 

* "Method in Education," p. 161. 



RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 317 

than to man to impart himself to the simple soul that 
knows nothing, yet understands its Ma'ker. " 

This part of the duty of education is surely as genuinely 
essential as to teach youth how to win their daily bread; 
how to seize life's opportunities; how to obtain pleasure 
and inspiration from literature, history, or art; how to 
meet the responsibilities of patriotic citizenship, even though 
it belongs to other agencies than the school. 

Agencies of Religious Instruction. — The principal instru- 
mentalities of religious instruction are the home, the 
church, and the school; or the "trinity of divinely ordained 
institutions, the home, the Church, and the State," the 
school representing the last. Under primitive conditions, 
when the whole duty of instruction could be undertaken 
by the parents, we know, concerning the Hebrews espe- 
cially, that the children were taught the Ten Commandments, 
the laws of Moses, the prophecies and promises of the 
Scriptures, the history of the race, the duties of the sanc- 
tuary, the rites and ceremonies of public worship, and the 
traditions of their people. In modern times the school 
has largely relieved the home of secular education, and in 
far too many cases parents have also absolved themselves 
from the religious training of their children, a duty that 
belongs peculiarly to them and that cannot be entirely 
thrown upon any other agency. Some of the greatest of 
the world's benefactors — Chrysostom, Augustine, Wesley, 
Ruskin, Moody — have testified to the profound impression 
made upon them by the religious teaching of their mothers. 

The tendency is to turn the religious training of children 
over to the Sunday school as the secular training is turned 



3l8 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

over to the day school, and this is utterly inadequate to 
perform the work of proper religious instruction. There is 
no disposition to minimize the work of the Sunday school, 
which is certainly doing a noble work. But it has most 
serious limitations. Its sessions are held once a week for 
about an hour; attendance is irregular; the children rarely 
make a thorough study of the lesson — often none at all; 
the lessons themselves are not graded to suit the capacity 
of the children, usually the same lesson is given to imma- 
ture children and adult men and women; the lessons are 
often scrappy and disconnected; the teachers are usually 
untrained, lacking pedagogical skill, and this skill, under 
the unfavorable circumstances, is doubly essential; and 
finally, it reaches less than fifty per cent of the children of 
our land. 

On the other hand, the Sunday school is truly educa- 
tional in so far as it inculcates the spirit of worship through 
its songs, its study of the Word of God, its various religious 
exercises, and its associations. 

Because of its limitations even with those it reaches, and 
because less than half of the children are enrolled in its 
ranks, the Sunday school is not a sufficient or adequate 
means for the religious education of the young of our land. 

The third instrumentality of religious instruction is the 
school. In private schools under denominational control 
such instruction may be freely given. But private schools 
reach only about seven per cent of the children in our 
elementary and secondary schools. Ninety-three per cent 
attend public schools where religious dogmas may not be 
taught. Parents are jealous of their religious beliefs and 
there must be no attempt in the public school, concealed 



RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 319 

or otherwise, to teach any distinctive creed. Upon this 
point the American people agree with great unanimity. 

The public school is supported by taxing the property 
of all classes of people without respect to religious belief. 
It has done more to unify our citizens and cement them into 
a strong, homogeneous, and patriotic whole, than any 
other institution. The introduction of creeds would dis- 
rupt our school system to its very foundation; hence the 
wisdom of our forefathers in excluding doctrinal instruc- 
tion. The discussion of rehgious dogmas always stirs men 
to the very depths — some of the most dreadful wars of 
history have been religious wars — and therefore even if 
the law did not forbid its introduction, it would be unwise 
to endanger the harmony of that institution where children 
of all classes meet as on one common ground. 

But if creeds may not be taught in the public school, does 
it follow that religion in the truest sense is excluded? Are 
these institutions "Godless," as has been charged? There 
are, says White, "At least three avenues open for the 
introduction of religious ideas and sanctions into our 
schools. These are sacred song, the literature of Christen- 
dom, and, best of all, faithful and fearless Christian teachers, 
the living epistles of the Truth. Against these there is no 
law." So long as the great body of teachers are righteous 
in their practices and true believers in God, the schools can 
never be "Godless" nor destitute of real religion. 

The State and Religion. — There is a confusion of terms 
which is partly responsible for the wide differences of 
opinion among the masses and among thinking men, both 
.as to the problem of religious instruction and its solution. 



320 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

The terms religion and church arc employed as synonyms, 
and the real meaning of religion is often obscure in the 
minds of many. Hon. William M. Lanning^ has offered 
some original and valuable suggestions concerning the 
relation of the State to religion which tend to clarify this 
subject. He holds that while Church and State are sep- 
arate, religion and the State are not separated. He shows 
that the history of the development of our national and 
State constitutions abounds with examples, expressed and 
implied, in which God is recognized, and adds, "We find, 
then, that the separation of Church and State in the Ameri- 
can republic has not led to a Godless or non-religious State. 
The State believes that the God of the Bible is our Supreme 
Ruler, that He administers justice perfectly, and that He 
bestows upon us individual and national blessings. She 
believes that He punishes perjury, and therefore requires 
her officials to bind their consciences by calling upon Him 
to hear and witness, and help them to perform, their 
promises of faithful performance of official duty. She 
appoints ordained servants of that God to lead her legisla- 
tors to the throne of grace to ask for national and State 
favors. There are principles and practices in every depart- 
ment of our federal and State governments that publish to 
the world that the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is 
the God of our government." 

In the application of these facts and these principles to 
the educational problem. Judge Lanning further says, 
"It is not the function of the State to teach the peculiar 
doctrines of any religious sect. That is left to the Church. 
What the State cannot do directly it should not attempt to do 

* Judge of the United States District Court for New Jersey. 



RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 321 

by indirection. The free public school is an institution of 
the State and not of the Church. It is wholly supported 
by taxes and other rates gathered from a people of a great 
variety of religious creeds. Each religious sect is free to 
teach its peculiar doctrines, but it cannot use the free 
public school as an instrument in such teaching, nor should 
it be permitted to use any portion of the public taxes for such 
purpose. As, however, the State recognizes in her affairs 
the overruling hand of God, so the children in the free 
public school, it being an institution of the State, should be 
taught to revere God. When they take the name of God 
in vain they should be told that it is wrong because God has 
forbidden it. When they steal they should be told that 
God has commanded us not to steal. When they lie they 
should be told that God has commanded us to speak the 
truth. They should be taught that the Ten Command- 
ments are in force because they came from God. While 
teachers in our public schools are not permitted to teach 
sectarian religion, they have no right to permit their schools 
to become Godless, for as the State is not Godless, and 
as it acknowledges God's justice and avenging power, the 
children of the State should not be left in ignorance of 
these great facts." 

In addition to the teaching that the Commandments 
must be kept because they are God's laws. Judge Lanning 
concludes, "The State has no part in teaching the doctrines 
which form the basis of classification into religious sects. 
But both the State and the public school have a very impor- 
tant part in the work of teaching that men have rights that 
are God-given and duties that are God-imposed, and that 
the measure of their enjoyment of these rights and the 



322 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

manner of their performance of these duties will be deter- 
mined by the nature of their faith in God's sovereignty, 
justice, and providence. These three religious doctrines 
pervade our whole governmental history, and they have a 
vital place in the State, and in the public school, and in 
every other agency of the State." 

Thus far it would seem that the public school might go; 
and, instead of stirring up sectarian jealousy, it is beheved 
that parents would welcome such instruction as necessary 
and fundamental in the complete education of their children. 
With wise and God-fearing teachers; with the inculcation 
of proper respect and reverence for sacred things; with an 
insight into the very nature of the subjects of the curricu- 
lum, all of which may easily be found to point to an All- wise 
and beneficent Creator, the religious instinct of every child 
may receive its natural development. "There is no sub- 
ject in the curriculum, there is no relation in the life of the 
school, which is not packed with potential di\dnity, and 
which may not make for morality," says Dr. Hervey. 

In the foregoing discussion we have attempted to show 
the universality of the principle of religion; that it is an 
essential part of the education of every man; what lessons 
it includes; the agencies to whom is committed the work of 
teaching it; and the relation of the State to religion. We 
have shown that the results attained under present con- 
ditions are not satisfactory, and that tliinkers are studying 
the problem and seeking a plan whereby better results may 
be secured. 

Religion Defined. — Perhaps a wrong conception of what 
is meant by religion is partly responsible for the confusion 



RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 323 

that exists in this field of thought. There are doubtless 
many views of religion, owing to the different standpoints 
from which it is considered. I offer the following view as 
presented by Dr. Alfred Wesley Wishart : ^ "But suppose 
we deal with what we have assumed to be a fact, irrespec- 
tive of the knowledge or consciousness of that fact. Sup- 
pose man is related to God, whether he knows and feels it 
or not; that the laws of the moral and physical world are 
God's laws; that every fact of nature tells us something 
about God, and that, when we deal with these laws of 
nature and obey them, we deal with and obey God ; that all 
moral ideals proceed from God, so we cannot try to realize 
any moral ideal without trying in some degree to do what 
God wants us to do, whether we know it to be God's will 
or not. Then a man's rehgion is his attitude toward all 
things — toward God, nature, humanity. What he tliinks, 
feels, and wills is his religion, because, from the very 
nature of the case, in view ofj the supposition taken, a 
man cannot think, feel, and act without displaying his 
attitude toward God." 

What the Public School May Do. — If the public school 
will teach religion according to this conception, if teachers 
will point out the fact that every good deed, every truth, 
every pure thought emanates from God; if the whole im- 
pulse of life and action is directed to a search after truth; 
if the symmetrical and perfect laws of nature are shown to 
be the expression of an intelligent Creator; if the relation- 
ship of human beings to each other is founded upon love 
and fosters the human brotherhood that Christ preached 

' "Primary Facts in Religious Thought," p. 10. 



324 ELEMENTARY PEDAGOGY 

and exemplified: if instructors will teach by theory and 
practice, consciously and perpetually, line upon line and 
precept upon precept, these great truths, then our children 
will gain a true and abiding conception of religion. This 
will prepare them to be good citizens, good parents, good 
neighbors, good men and women. It should also make 
easy the work of the home and the church in leading them 
to confession of faith and admission into church member- 
ship. This work can be done without friction or without 
stirring up religious strife; indeed, it is the natural function 
of the school to perform this work and it cannot reach its 
highest and truest aim unless it does perform it. 

That such teaching, in a measure, is already given in the 
American public school is evident — it could not be other- 
wise with the great body of Christian men and women who 
are consecrated to this vocation. But the fear of arousing 
religious controversy — a fear that has been greatly exag- 
gerated — has deterred the mass of teachers from such 
conscious, definite, and thorough instruction as has been 
suggested in the foregoing treatment. 

If, with Dr. Wishart, we take religion to mean "man's 
actual inner life, viewed in its relationship to God, in 
which experience, thoughts, feelings, and will are indis- 
solubly united," surely no school in the land may be 
debarred from teacliing it. Formal creeds and peculiar 
doctrines may be promulgated by other agencies; but the 
essence of religion which is love, charity, benevolence, 
brotherly kindness, honesty, loving service, unselfishness, 
faith in God, and trust in an all-wise Providence, may 
surely characterize all instruction, and permeate all the 
activities of the school. 



RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 325 

Summary 

I. Religion is a universal characteristic of mankind. As 
education includes the development of the whole man, it 
must necessarily include religious culture, which embraces 
a spirit of reverance, knowledge of the Bible, prayer, a con- 
ception of religion, and initiation into the ceremonies of wor- 
ship. The agencies of religious instruction are the home, 
the church, and the school. 

II. While the public school may not teach creeds, in the 
truest sense, it must teach religion, which is recognized by 
the State. Although Church and State are separate, relig- 
ion and the State are not separate, and therefore the public 
school, the representative of the State, must prepare the 
children for intelligent citizenship by training the con- 
science and by instructing them as to the sovereignty, justice, 
and providence of God. 

III. It is incumbent upon the teachers consciously and 
daily, through every act of discipline and instruction, in 
every subject of the curriculum to stimulate that inner life of 
the pupils " viewed in its relationship to God, in which 
experience, thoughts, feelings, and will are indissolubly 
united." 



INDEX 



Abstraction, end of education, 237. 

highest intellectual power, 42. 

third step in attention, 222. 
Act of learning, 259. 
Adams, on the reasoning of animals, 

40. 
Agassiz, on evolution, 45. 
Aim, of education, 8, 11. 
Analysis, second step in attention, 

221. 
Analytic method, iii. 
Apperception, 69. 

process of, 74. 
Application, final step in instruction, 

95- 
Apprenticeship, the first stage in 

instruction, 261. 
Aristotle, on education, 9, 29. 
Arnold, influence upon students, 54. 
Association, the third step in in- 
struction, 90. 
Athenians, toys of, 116. 
Athens, education of, 8. 
Athletics, not the purpose of educa- 
tion, 13. 
Attention, aids perception, 236. 
cannot long be held, 90. 
essential to self-activity, 218. 
must not be dissipated, 106. 
necessary in memory, 252. 
practical suggestions concerning, 

224. 
\atally essential, 6. 



Augustine, studied educational prob- 
lems, 182. 

influence of mother of, 317. 
Authority, of parent and teacher, 151. 

obedience to in will training, 290. 

Bacon, inductive method of, 30. 

student of education, 182. 
Baldwin, on culture epochs, 76. 
Balliet, on course of study, 268. 
Base -ball, a game to encourage, 125. 
Basil the Great, on punishment, 154. 
Basket-ball, as a game, 125. 
Berlin, free lunches for children in, 

201. 
Bible, in teaching morals, 304. 

knowledge of necessary, 313. 

read by Lincoln, 171. 
N. E. A. resolutions regarding, 309. 
Bittenger, on vdW power, 289. 
Blind, acuteness of, -63. 
Boyle, Rev. J. Richards, on char- 
acter, 16. 
Bowen, on self-activity, 217. 
Brains, presumption of, 160. 
Brooks, on attention, 220. 
Bulwer-Lytton, on abstraction, 43. 
Burgher school, purpose of, 9. 
Butler, N.M., on college courses, 269. 

on departments of knowledge, 20. 

on religious instruction, 309. 

on what constitutes a university, 
284. 



327 



328 



INDEX 



Capacity, of child, 159. 

shows his limitations, 263. 
Carr, on moral training, 303. 
Chairs, of pedagogy, ^;^. 
Character, as connected with habits, 

135- 
definition of, 16. 
formed by habits, 295. 
the aim of education, 12. 
the result of will training, 301. 
the influence of elementar}' school 
upon, 51. 
Charlemagne, ideas of education, g, 
29. 
student of education, 182. 
Child, content of the mind of, 277. 
Child study, work it has accom- 
plished, 160. 
Children, average five years in 
school, 174. 
belong to home first six years, 183. 
clothing of, 12. 
three types of, 268. 
China, education of, 8. 
Chinese, have few toys, 116. 
Christianity, noblest of religions, 

307- 
Church, paintings in, 245. 

part of in education, 184. 

separate from state, 308. 

silent influence of, 195. 
Cicero, idea of education of, 29. 
Citizenship, education prepares for, 

7- 
Civil society, part of in education, 

188. 
Classics, "Five-cent," 249. 
Cleanliness, teaching of, 206. 
Clothing, character of, 205. 
of children, 121. 



Coler, on memorizing the Scriptures, 

315- 

on the will, 290. 
College, "People's," 56. 

courses offered, 284. 

elective courses in, 58. 

possibilities of self-help in, 172. 

value of training of, 176. 
Coe, on religion, 307. 
Columbia, courses in, 269. 
Combe, incapacity of for arithmetic, 

163. 
Comenius, definition of education of, 

9- 

Great Didactic of, 267. 

on experience, 278. 

on nature study, 31. 

Orbis Pictus of, 239. 

a student of education, 182. 
Commercial courses, 56. 
Compayre, on science of education, 

23- 
Concrete, abandonment of, 237. 

judgment in use of, 105. 
Conscience, definition of, 302. 
Cook, on the smell, 62. 
Correlation, essentials of, 271. 
Council of Education, of New 

Jersey, 55. 
Course of study, 49, 267. 

in the high school, 56. 

nature of, 270. 

not limited to the three R's, 185. 
Creative imagination, 242. 
Creeds, may not be taught in the 

public school, 319. 
Criticism, of schools, 185. 
Cuba, teachers from, 65. 
Culture Epochs Theory, 75. 

offers suitable literature, 247. 



INDEX 



329 



Deductive method, 113. 

De Garmo, on course of study, 269. 

on departments of knowledge, 19. 

gives outline of field of culture, 273. 
Departmental teaching, 25, 277. 
Development, harmonious, 12. 

subjects necessary for, 19. 

intellectual, 216. 
Diesterweg, on method, loi. 

on self-improvement, 108. 
Dickens, concerning myths, 247. 
Dodge, on value of higher educa- 
tion, 176. 
Dulness, not incapacity, 161. 

necessitates persistency, 264. 
Duty, obedience to, 296. 

Ear, training of, 61, 241. 
Edson, on memory gems, 251. 
Educating, compared with training, 

35- 
Education, advantages of higher, 175. 
aim of, 8. 

a process of cancellation, 259. 
best attained under free institu- 
tions, 300. 
cannot omit religion, 310. 
definition of, 12. 
Dr. Green's definition of, 19. 
duty of, 182. 

German conception of, 11. 
importance of, 181. 
is from within, 36. 
has to do with habits, 148. 
material means of, 171. 
of primitive sires, 180. 
philosophy of, 3. 
possible to man alone, 47. 
process of, 83. 
the two ends it should reach, 173. 



Educators, recognize pedagogy as a 

science, 33. 
thoughts of concerning religious 

instruction, 308. 
Election, in the elementary school, 

5°- 
in the high school, 55. 

Elective studies, 49. 

Elementary school, election in, 50. 
ends it should accomplish, 274. 

Eliot, George, on precocity, 265. 

Eliot, President, on departments of 
knowledge, 20. 

Emancipation, the purpose of edu- 
cation, 159. 

Erasmus, concerning education, 

3°- 
self-control of, 171. 
Ethics, embraced in pedagogy, 6. 

relation to the will, 288. 
Experience, as a means of learning, 
277. 
value of, I. 
Evolution, Agassiz's idea of, 46. 
Eye, training of, 240. 

Factors, in the educadon of the 

child, 180. 
Fads, discussion of, 185. 
Fairy tales, use of, 247. 
Family, must teach obedience, 291. 
Fatigue, statistics concerning, 207. 
Fenelon, anticipated Froebel, 31. 
employed the principle of play, 

117. 
Field-work, at Jena battle-ground, 

80. 
Finding relations, fourth step in 

attention, 233. 
Food, knowledge of essential, 203. 



330 



INDEX 



Formal steps, of instniction, 84. 
Francke, definition of education of, 

9- 

on training teachers, 31. 
Franklin, self-control of, 171. 
Freedom, definition of, 291. 

false conception of, 299. 

gained through obedience to law, 

151- 
Froebel, definition of education of, 

10. 
on the clothing of children, 121. 
on self-activity, 164, 217. 
utilized play, 117. 

Gambling, definition of, 126. 
Games, the ones to be encouraged, 

125- 
teacher's part in, 127. 
Goethe, gives his own character- 
istics, 66. 
Golden Rule, to be applied in games, 

125. 
Goldsmith, limitations of, 162. 
Government, dishonesty in, 192. 
must protect its citizens, 300. 
Grant, character of, 17. 

on music, 162. 
Grecian games, copied at Jena, 

128. 
Greeks, games of, 116. 
Green, definition of education of, 

19. 
Greenwood, on memory, 250. 
on pedagogical literature, 32. 
on science of education, 22. 
Griesbach, concerning fatigue, 211. 
Griggs, on knowledge of the Bible, 

313- 
Gymnastics, purpose of, 212. 



Habits, and their formation, 6, 83, 

135- 

changing of, 147. 

choice of, 142. 

definition of habit, 136. 

established in the home, 183. 

formed in early life, 52. 

inculcated by school discipline, 
167. 

of industry, 231. 

necessary in fixing will power, 295, 
Hall, G. Stanley, on bodily hea>h. 
199. 

on memorizing, 250. 
Hamilton, Sir W., definition of 

science, 25. 
Harris, Dr., on attention, 224. 

on the average schooling of the 
child, 261. 

on the adaptation of material, 103. 

on conscience, 302. 

on course of study, 272. 

on criticism of the schools, 187. 

on departments of knowledge, 20. 

on different virtues, 297. 

on forming habits, 148. 

on the professionally taught, 265. 

on the social code, 293. 

on the value of education, 176. 
Health, exercises for, 213. 
Herbart, Culture Epochs Theory of, 

175- 
made education a science, 31. 
on self-activity, 164. 
Herbartian School, lays stress on 
character building, 301. 
theory of as to material, 75. 
Hervey, on religious instruction, 322. 

on self-activity, 216. 
High School, election in, 55. 



INDEX 



!3I 



Histon' of Education, character of, 

2. 

Home, part of in instruction, 281. 

present duty of, 183. 

relation to playthings, 133. 

should train to freedom, 300. 

under early conditions, 180. 
Hopkins, Mark, influence of, 54. 
Home, on self-activity, 217. 
Hughes, comparing Froebel and 
Herbart, 164. 

concerning self-acti\ity, 219. 

Illustration, care in using of, 87, 

104. 
Illustrations, increased employment 

of, 245. 
Imagination, 6, 38. 

cultivation of, 244. 

definition of, 241. 
Incapacity vs. dulness, 161. 
India, education of, 8. 
Inductive method, 112. 
Industry, to be utilized, 228. 
Insanity, law regarding, 202. 
Instinct, of animals, 37. 
Instruction, agencies of, 281. 

a process of cancellation, 259. 

as to foods, 203. 

elements of, 109. 

errors in, 81. 

in the family, 292. 

in morals, 303. 

in religion, 317. 

in social usages, 292. 

method of, 226. 

oral, 277. 

principal work of the school, 261. 

process of, 81. 

what is presupposed in, 102. 



Intellectual, development, 216. 

habits, 138. 

must have the chief attention, 14. 

not alone to be considered, 12. 
Interest, essential to attention, 225. 
Isolation, the first step in attention, 
220. 

James, Prof., on attention, 219. 

on psychology, 4. 
Jena, gymnastic exercises at, 128. 

field-trip to battle ground of, 80. 
Jesuits, ideas of education of, 30. 

Ratio Studiorum of, 75, 267. 
Jews, education of, 8. 
Johnson, Dr., on interest, 225. 
Journeymanship, the second stage 
in education, 261. 

Kant, definition of method of, 2. 
Keller, Helen, acuteness of, 63. 

capacity of, 163. 
Kern, on logical summaries, 91. 
Kindergarten, dangers in to be 

avoided, 117. 
Knowledge, acquirement of a slow 
process, 259. 

gained through the senses, 63. 

to be practically used, 97. 

the first essential, 100. 

work of teacher in gaining, 72. 

Lange, on apperception, 69, 74. 

on method, 10 1. 

on need of formal instruction, 84. 

on summarizing, 92. 

on the child and his experience, 78. 

on what the teacher can do, 80. 
Languages, should be begun early, 
283. 



332 



INDEX 



Lanning, on religion in the schools, 

320. 
Law, growing disregard for, 151. 

respect for a part of education, 191. 
Laziness, relative rather than abso- 
lute, 229. 
Learning, act of, 259. 

means of, 277. 
Leipsic, lesson as to food at, 203. 
Leonardo, "Last Supper" of, 242. 
Limitations, educational, 159. 
Limits, of education, 175. 
Lincoln, character of, 17. 

self-control of, 171. 
Literature, in teaching morals, 304. 

in training the imagination, 245. 
Locke, definition of education of, 9. 

on keeping the attention, 228. 

student of education, 182. 

sound mind in a sound body, 198. 
Logical power, training of, 254. 
London, efforts of for poor children, 

201. 
Lukens, on fatigue, 210. 
Luther, a student of education, 182. 
Lyon, Mary, influence of, 54. 

Maclaren, relation of mind to body, 
200. 

Management of school, belongs to 
the teachers, 285. 

Mann, Horace, concerning health, 
200. 

Marble, Dr., on capacity, 160. 

Marble-playing, control of, 126. 

Marden, on dulness, 162. 

Martin, Geo. H., on Washington, 17. 

Manual training, purpose of, 188. 

Mastership, the final step in edu- 
cation, 262. 



Material, choice of, 64, 75. 

old to be utilized, 69. 

selection of, 161. 
McCIure, on character, 18. 

on choice of habits, 143. 
McKinley, character of, 17. 
McMurr}', on abstraction, 43. 

on apperception 71 

on appl}^ing the lesson, 97. 

on science of education, 27. 
Memory, Dr. Johnson on, 225. 

too much neglected, 139 

rules to be committed, 93. 

training of, 251. 

when most retentive, 250. 
Method, a guide, 103. 

definition of, 2, 106. 

imparting method, 262. 

importance of, 226. 

teacher a factor in, 106. 

the catechetical, 281. 

three elements of, 109. 
Methods, different kinds of, no. 

in German schools, 11. 

of instruction, 100. 
Mind, affected by the body, 198, 201. 
Mohra, incident at, 79. 
Montaigne, on health, 199. 
Moral, habits, 139. 

not alone to be trained, 12. 

must not be neglected, 14, 
Moral training, in the school, 303. 
Morals, effect of upon a community, 
190. 

effect of upon health, 199. 

fostered by employment, 167. 

in good literature, 249. 

involve will training, 296. 
Miiller, on abstraction, 43. 
I Munger, on a sound body, 199. 



INDEX 



333 



Miinsterberg, on the child's apti- 
tudes, 50. 
Myths and fairy tales, 247. 

Napoleon, at Jena, 80. 

National Educational Association, ^^. 

Reports of, 268. 

on use of the Bible, 309. 
New Jersey Council of Education, 55. 

course of study of, 268. 
Newton, on power of attention, 220. 
New York, vital statistics in, 214. 
Normal School, training of, 107. 
Nourishment, necessary for intel- 
lectual work, 201. 

Obedience, first essential in will 
training, 290. 
j to become a habit, 149. 
' to duty, 296. 
Objects, care in choosing, 105. 

use of, 237. 
Object teaching, employment of, 236. 
Objective hmit, of education, 171. 
Olympian games, 116. 
Oral instruction, as a means of 
learning, 277. 
direct means of instruction, 280. 
O'Shea, on science of education, 24. 
Overton, on foods, 205. 

Parents, criticisms of, 185. 

must teach obedience, 290. 

part of in education, 281. 
Parker, Col., on attention, 219. 

on a lazy child, 228. 

on his own limitations, 162. 

on laws of health, 199. 

on the purpose of the school, 119. 
Paris, care for indigent children in, 
201. 



Patriotism, how fostered, 193. 
Paulsen, on playthings, 131. 
Payne, Joseph, on psychology, 3. 
Payne, W. H., on science of educa- 
tion, 27. 
Pedagogy, according to Rosenkranz, 

5- 

definition of, 7. 

field of, 6. 

knowledge of necessary, i. 

relation to psychology, 3. 
Perception, upon what dependent, 

234- 
Persia, education of, 8. 

toys of, 116. 
Personality, of the teacher, 107, 227. 
Pestalozzi, definition of education 
of, 10. 

influence of upon Froebel, 117. 

on harmonious development, 31. 

on method, loi. 

service of, 72. 

student of education, 182. 
Phases of education, in summary,2i. 
Philosophy of education, 3. 
Physical, habits, 136. 

not alone to be trained, 12, 198. 

rules of physical exercise, 213. 

signs of fatigue, 208. 
Picture books, value of, 79. 
Pictures, use of, 238. 
Pisa, lesson from tower of, 136. 
Plato, ideas of education of, 182. 
Play, as an educational factor, 116. 

definition of, 122. 

does not cease with childhood, 130. 

meaning of, 121. 

purpose of, 124. 

teacher's influence in, 53. 

to lead to self-employment, 167. 



334 



INDEX 



Playthings, educational value of, 

131- 
Politeness, nature of, 293. 
Prayer, to be taught in the home , 

315- 
Preparation, the first step in instruc- 
tion, 84. 
Presentation, the second step in 

instruction, 88. 
Prizes, in school at Jena, 128. 
Professionally taught, advantages of, 

265. 
Program, arrangement of, 275. 
Psychology, limitations of, 4. 
i,n relation to pedagogy, 2. 
in relation to the will, 288. 
Public school, may not teach relig- 
ious creeds, 15, 319, 320. 
Punishment, definition of, 158. 
principles governing, 152. 
sometimes necessary, 152. 

Quintilian, concerning education, 9, 
30- 

Rabelais, anticipated Spencer, 30. 
Raphael, "Sistine Madonna" of, 

242. 
Ratke, anticipated Rousseau, 30. 
Reason, discussion of, 6, 253. 

of animals, 39. 

must not be cultivated too early, 

ISO- 
Recapitulation, the fourth step in 

instruction, 91. 
Recess, necessity of, 276. 
Recitation, length of, 226. 
Recreation, essential also for adults, 

131- 
Rein, on Froebel and Herbart, 31. 



Religion, a part of education, 15. 

a universal principle, 307, 

conception of, 315. 

definition of, 322. 

in the state school, 184, 323. 
Religious education, what it em- 
braces, 312. 
Religious habits, 140. 
Religious instruction, agencies of, 

317- 

Repetition, essential in memory, 252. 

Report of Committee of Ten, 267. 

Republic, education essential to 
perpetuity of, 191. 

Rest, necessity of, 207. 

Reverence, essential to good breed- 
ing, 312. 

Reynolds, Sir J., idleness of, 230. 

Roark, on methods, 100. 
on science of education, 24. 

Rogers, on the kindergarten, 119. 

Rome, education of, 9. 

Rosenkranz, definition of education 
of, II. 
definition of sense-perception of, 

233- 
on absolute limit, 174. 
on adaptation of material, 103. 
on attention, 228. 
on conception of religion, 315. 
on cleanliness, 206. 
on daily program, 276. 
on freedom, 299. 
on gymnastics, 212. 
on habits, 135. 
on ideals of duty, 292, 296. 
on imagination, 241. 
on instruction, 259. 
on industry, 230. 
on kinds of punishment, 152, 156. 



INDEX 



335 



Rosenkranz. — Contintted. 

on literature, 246. 

on mastership, 263. 

on mind and body, 202. 

on pedagogy, 5. 

orf personality of the teacher, 106. 

on self-activity, 216. 

on the self-taught, 266. 

on the objective limit, 171. 

on the three stages of development, 
261. 

on training the memory, 252. 

on the use of pictures, 238. 

on the value of text -books, 279. 

on what is presupposed in instruc- 
tion, 102. 

on "Who can be educated?" 35. 
Rosmini, on attention, 219. 

on culture epochs, 76. 

on errors in instruction, 81. 

on material to be given, 73. 

on religious instruction, 316. 

on training the perceptions, 72. 
Rousseau, as student of education, 
182. 

false ideas of religious instruction 
of, 316. 

on physical exercise, 199. 

on punishment, 154. 
Rules, should be learned, 93. 

use of, 256. 
Ruskin, influence of mother upon, 

317- 

Schmidt, Karl, on educational pro- 
gress, 29. 
School, as agency of instruction, 282. 

chief work of, 261. 

may teach religion, 319. 

must not teach creed, 308. 



School. — Continued. 

must be aided by other factors, 
197. 

purpose of, 83. 

shapes future of a people, 133. 

teaches conventionalities of edu- 
cation, 186. 

theory of punishment of, 54. 

what it must accomplish, 274. 

who shall manage, 285. 
School management, 2. 
Schools, different kinds of, 283. 
School boards, function of, 285. 
Schurz, Karl, reminiscences of, 235. 
Science, definition of, 25. 

of education, 22, 28. 
Scott, Sir W., limitations of, 162. 
Self-activity, discussion of, 6, 164. 

essential to success, 216. 

illustrated in play, 130. 

taught by Froebel, 217. 
Self-control, on evidence of educa- 
tion, 169. 

of American people, 170. 

to be taught, 157. 
Self-employment, educational value 

of, 166. 
Self-government, children to be led 
to, 157. 

prepares for freedom, 300. 

the ultimate aim of wiU training, 
298. 
Self-improvement, essential to 

method, 107. 
Self-taught, advantages of, 265. 
Seneca, definition of education of, 9. 

on character of the teacher, 29. 
Sense perception, discussions of, 

233- 
of animals and man, 38. 



336 



INDEX 



Senses, knowledge gained through, 

60. 
Shaw, course of study of, 268. 
Smell, cultivation of, 61. 
Smith, on creative imagination, 

243- 

on habits, 148. 

on methods, iii. 

on power of the will, 289. 
Social usages, in will training, 291. 
Society, part of in education, 188. 
Socrates, ideas of education of, 

182. 
Soldan, on science of education, 22. 
Sparta, education of, 8. 

toys of, 116. 
Special schools, 285. 
Speciahst, purpose of, 51. 
Spencer, anticipated by Seneca, 9. 

definition of education of, 10. 

on capacity of the child, 264. 

on educational problems, 182. 

on punishment, 154. 
Springfield, examination in schools 

of, 186. 
State, must enforce law, 193. 

not separate from religion, 319. 

part of in education, 191. 

separate from church, 308. 

theory of punishment of, 153. 
Statistics, of fatigue, 207. 

of health, 214. 
Story, school garden of, 168. 

school of at Jena, 128. 
Sturm, course of study of, 267. 
Subject-matter, 3. 

Sunday school, fosters religious edu- 
cation, 184. 

hmitations of, 317. 
Synthetic method, iii. 



Taste, for literature acquired, 248. 

training of, 61. 
Tate, on science of education, 26. 
Teacher, The Great, Golden Rule 
of, 293. 

teachings of, 30. 
Teacher, a fountain of knowledge, 
II. 

great work of, 178. 

influence of in forming char- 
acter, 51. 

is not the method, lor. 

must arouse self-activity, 218. 

must seek two ends, 175. 

must employ tact, 230. 

part of in games, 127. 

personality of, 106, 227. 

relation to plajlhings, 133. 

self-improvement of, 108. 

should watch the reading, 249. 

work of in gaining knowledge, 72. 

work of in teaching religion, 322. 

work of in training the will, 289. 
Teaching, of morals, 183, 304. 

the process of, 81. 
Temptation, child to be guarded 

against, 295. 
Text-books, means of learning, 279. 
Thackeray, on dulness, 162. 
Theory, importance of, 107. 
Thinking, what power it employs, 

253- 

Tompkins, on education and reli- 
gion, 310. 
on self -activity, 217. 

Trade unions, arrogance of, 299. 

Training, compared with educating, 

35- 
of the will, 288. 
Trenton, battle of, 223. 



INDEX 



337 



Trollope, Anthony, limitations of, 

162. 
Tutorial method, advantages of, 281. 

Unions, must not tyrannize over 

others, 299. 
University, definition of, 284. 

Value, of higher education, 175. 
Virtues, must all be taught, 298. 
Vocation, a part of education, 189. 

Wagner, on fatigue, 207. 

Waitz, conception of education of, 1 1 . 

on pedagogy, 10. 
Wallace, on evolution, 46. 
Ward, on the reasoning of animals, 

39- 
Wasliington, character of, 17. 

stories from life of, 226. 
Washington, Booker T., 109. 
Waste,from not associating material, 
91. 



Watt, limitations of, 162. 
Wellington, limitations of, 162. 
White, on training the ^\^ll, 296. 
"Who's Who in America," lessons 

from, 175. 
Will, definition of, 288. 

steps in training of, 290. 
Williams, on course of study, 267. 
Wilson, Mrs., on choice of material, 

161. 
Wishart, on religious education, 323. 
Withers, Prof., on work, 129. 
Work, definition of, 122. 

vs. play, 129. 
Written page, as a means of learn- 
ing, 277. 

Yale, courses in, 269. 
" Young America," false idea of, 194. 
Young Men's Christian Association, 
influence of, 184. 

Ziller, on culture epochs, 75. 



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